The U.S. Secret Service is wrapping up a major two-day initiative to get illegal card skimmers out of stores and off gas pumps in Tarrant County.\u00a0<\/p>\n
More than 200 stores and over 400 gas pumps were inspected to combat a crime that is costing taxpayers millions of dollars.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Skimmers fit over credit card readers, with some wiring attached. They don’t cost anything to make, but authorities say each one can generate as much as $1 million for thieves who use them.<\/p>\n
Ten teams of agents inspected card readers at more than 1,500 cash registers, ATMs and gas pumps. The enforcement effort also included educating business owners on how to spot a skimmer. \u00a0<\/p>\n
“We feel as though this is the best way to curtail these particular things,” said Corey Graves, with the U.S. Secret Service Dallas Field Office. “Just to do this outreach program because we’re again going out and we’re visually inspecting.”<\/p>\n
The ORION Initiative specifically targeted businesses that sell mostly to those with Electronic Benefit Transfer or EBT cards, which are used for food and government assistance programs, draining the lifelines of those who need them most.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“These are vulnerable people already,” Graves said.<\/p>\n
The Secret Service says its nationwide operation has prevented more than $570 million in taxpayer money from being lost to criminals<\/p>\n
“If you think about that, the average benefit recipient gets anywhere between $1,000 and $3,000 a month; that is a lot of people that are being victimized,” said Graves.<\/p>\n
Authorities say the business owners are almost always unaware of what’s happening. The owners of some of the stores visited by the Secret Service say they now know what to look for.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“We didn’t know how they do it, but he’s explaining to me, and we’re going to be careful from now on,” said store owner Abdul Mohammed.<\/p>\n
Nationwide, the Secret Service says it’s confiscated more than 500 skimmers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It’s a crime that the agency estimates costs taxpayers and financial institutions more than $1 billion each year.\u00a0<\/p>\n