Secret Service Tracks Skimmers Stealing SNAP Benefits in Major Crackdown — Inside Details

Frequent incidents of card skimming, resulting in fraud and the theft of money from vulnerable communities, compelled the United States Secret Service (USSS) to conduct a series of crackdown operations across the nation. The USSS crackdown was conducted at Tarrant County, Texas, stores that provide SNAP benefits. The operations conducted on April 12 and 13 were the 45th by the Secret Service to disrupt the fraud.

The USSS Financial Analyst Vincent Porter has heard several stories about shop owners who have been using compromised point-of-sale terminals. As a result, they were exposing their customers to skimmers.

In 2025, the USSS partnered with local law enforcement organizations to investigate 60,000 card readers.

Porter said several business owners never intended to expose their customers and were visibly upset and even embarrassed when authorities found skimming devices in their stores.

“During the Boston operation we did, we had a bakery owner who was visibly upset because we found a skimming device in his store. He was literally starting to cry. It wasn’t so much that the device was there; it was more because it was victimizing his customers,” Porter said.

Porter, who works at the Secret Service Criminal Investigation Division, helps plan agencies' nationwide outreach operations to address Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) scams and ATM skimming.

The crackdown by Secret Service agents on the Tarrant County shops authorized to provide SNAP EBT resulted in the discovery of multiple skimming devices.

The investigation revealed that the skimming devices were being used to steal large amounts of money from the most vulnerable in society. Investigators found several skimming devices specifically targeting SNAP users. Federal investigators have said in several accounts that the fraud resulting in the theft of money from families who struggle to put food on the table has reached an all-time high.

According to a report by Investigate TV, a Georgian woman watched $1,111 disappear from the SNAP account within minutes of its deposit. This is not an isolated incident. Investigators have also said that it is becoming difficult to catch the scammers.

In an interview, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Chief Investigator Mark Haskins said the issue is much bigger than what is being reported.

EBT stands for Electronic Benefits Transfer, an electronic system that allows a Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participant to purchase food using SNAP benefits. When a program participant shops at a SNAP-authorized retail store, their SNAP EBT account is debited to reimburse the store for the food purchased.