"TOWSON, MARYLAND - Inside a suburban Maryland gas station, the Secret Service's Vincent Porter runs his fingers over a card reader in front of a clerk, hunting for signs that the terminal has been hijacked by thieves. The financial analyst is feeling for the plastic overlay of a skimmer, an electronic device used to exploit the half-century-old card technology still used to deliver benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, which helps over 41 million Americans pay for food each month."
"For more than a year, Secret Service employees have been going shop-to-shop working in one of the oddest fronts against transnational crime - and one that would be greatly reduced if governments would update benefit cards to include chip technology. Skimmers work by recording card information when its magnetic stripe is swiped. In most places, that swipe is the only way to redeem SNAP benefits. California is currently the only state with chip cards."
Secret Service agents inspect gas-station card readers for plastic overlays indicating skimmers. Skimmers record magnetic-stripe data when cards are swiped. Most SNAP/EBT transactions still rely on magnetic-stripe swipes, and California is the only state using chip-enabled benefit cards. Criminals use skimmed data to steal benefits, transfer funds to new cards, and buy food for resale. Between early 2023 and end of 2025, over 670,000 households had benefits stolen and the federal government reimbursed more than $320 million. Propel estimates $349 million stolen in the first half of 2025 alone. Transnational crime rings exploit guaranteed funds and move money overseas.
Read at Nextgov.com
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