Overview
- Agents recovered 13 skimming devices in a two-day operation across Tarrant County, visiting 462 businesses and checking nearly 3,000 registers, gas pumps, and ATMs.
- Teams concentrated on stores that accept Electronic Benefit Transfer cards used for SNAP food aid, looking for overlays on card readers that capture card data and PINs.
- Investigators seized the devices for forensic review, lifting fingerprints and, when cameras were built in, pulling storage cards that may show who installed them.
- The sweep included on-site lessons for owners on how to spot loose or altered readers, which matters because Texas does not replace stolen EBT funds.
- The Secret Service says the broader ORION effort has prevented about $573 million in fraud nationwide and has confiscated more than 500 skimmers.