Card Skimmer Scams on the Rise, DSHS Says

The Department of Social and Health Services, or DSHS, is warning EBT card users that they’re being targeted, and incidents of card skimming are on the rise.

A disturbing trend is emerging across Washington: people are having their SNAP benefits stolen right out from under them.

According to the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS), scammers attach card skimmers to point-of-sale machines and steal card numbers and other information from credit, debit, and EBT cards.

The agency says the skimmers are hard to spot, and can be installed in less than a minute.

Kelly Cray lives in Lynnwood and says she was a victim of one of these scams back in October.

Cray says she was shocked to see the balance on her EBT card from go $300 to nothing.

“I went to make a purchase on the 13th, and saw that it was gone,” she recalled. “I saw my balance and thought, “What the heck?”

Cray says she was thankful to rely on friends and family to get her through, and had to go to food banks to get by.

But she’s currently unable to work due to medical issues and multiple surgeries, and with rising costs from inflation, she needs her SNAP benefits to survive.

“I count on that every month, and it was quite a shock to me when one day, I knew I had $300, and two days later, I had nothing,” she said.

Cray says she filed a police report and reached out to DSHS for help, but federal and state rules prohibit the replacement of stolen SNAP benefits.

“I was just flat out told I’m not going to be reimbursed. Maybe down the road, I don’t know. But it’s not like where there’s fraud at a bank, there’s insurance, and I couldn’t believe that from the government,” Cray said.

SNAP put out an advisory telling people that if they see a card skimmer or detect tampering, to stop using the machine immediately, and call the local authorities as soon as possible.

All FReepers would do well to search for ‘card skimmer’ and become familiar with these devices if you use cards anywhere that they would be inserted/swiped.

To the uninitiated, you would never know, they’re often that good. Don’t be bashful about grabbing the ATM and trying to pull off the housing (you can’t do it on a real one). As well, any suspicions should prompt a ‘walkaway’ and a phone call to whomever is responsible. Just last week I noticed that my bank’s lane ATM had changed, literally grabbed the card reader head and it wiggled, walked into the bank, complained and completed my transaction (pocket cash) inside. In this case it appears to be a bad install, but it could also have been a skimmer.

As well, if you must use a debit card, have a 2nd ‘checking account’ for just such purposes (random purchases) and label the debit card associated with it as such (#2), keeping a minimum of funds in the balance to minimize the pain of a fraud transaction. Reserve #1 for your priorities (payments, etc. and be judicious).

Also, if you have a concern about even giving your card to a waiter, have one such card with a very low limit - credit, NOT ‘debit’ - and use it exclusively for such purchases, paying it off frequently. High interest doesn’t matter on such a card if you’re keeping a zero balance at statement time, and any fees are arguably labeled ‘financial security’.

I keep a card specifically for online purchases, one on which I refuse to pay any more fees (a longtime card, high interest and PITA customer service) and which I do not wish to cancel and adversely affect my credit. If it becomes part of a fraudulent transaction, I could care less: They’ll reverse the charges and send me a new card.

At a minimum, all this equally protects others as well by preventing fraud and the additional costs which ALL of us consumers bear.

Perhaps all obvious to some, but the post merits repeating even the obvious.

Now if us gun carrying right-wingers could only get immunity for shooting shoplifters in the leg [sic], perhaps we could also put a dent in that additional expense we all pay at the register...

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