Scammers can install credit card skimmers in as little as three seconds, stealing your financial data almost as quickly as you can swipe your card.
Mesa Police are sharing multiple examples of sophisticated skimming operations targeting Arizona businesses. In one case, a man posed as a painter to install a skimmer at a bank drive-through ATM, then strategically moved a trash can in front of other lanes to force customers to use the compromised machine.
"These people who are installing them are after debit cards but more specifically EBT cards," Detective Green with Mesa Police said.
Green said the criminals are acutely aware of days EBT cards are reloaded. He said many of the criminals use tiny cameras to capture PIN numbers and account information while the skimmer records card data. Thieves then use or sell this stolen information on the black market.
"The camera is watching the keypad while the keypad records the input," Detective Green said, showing evidence from Mesa Police skimming investigations.
The financial impact is staggering. "The Secret Service has said it's hundreds of millions, possibly into the billions," Detective Green said. The FBI estimates more than $1 billion a year are lost to skimmers.
Bill Mack, the special agent in charge of the Phoenix Field Office for the U.S. Secret Service, says skimmers appear in three main locations.
"You see it in three different places. They're at ATMs, at gas pumps or on point-of-sale terminals," Mack said.
The Secret Service removed hundreds of skimmers last year alone.
"These are sophisticated criminal operations, based overseas. A lot of them are based in Eastern Europe," Mack said.
Nationwide crackdown reveals massive scope
The problem extends far beyond Arizona. According to the U.S. Secret Service, federal agents conducted 22 operations in cities nationwide during 2025, visiting more than 9,000 businesses and removing 411 illegal skimming devices.
The operations prevented an estimated potential loss of more than $428.1 million, with nearly 60,000 point-of-sale terminals, gas pumps and ATMs inspected across the country.
"There is not one operation I've been on where I haven't had someone come up to me while they have seen us inspecting, saying they were a victim of skimming, they lost their EBT funds, and saying how badly it has affected them," said U.S. Secret Service Financial Analyst Vincent Porter, according to the agency.
Business owners often have no idea their establishments have been compromised. Porter described one particularly emotional discovery during a Boston operation.
"We had a bakery owner who was visibly upset due to the fact that we found a skimming device in his store. He was literally starting to cry," Porter said, according to the Secret Service. "It wasn't so much that the device was in there, it was also that it was victimizing his customers."
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Targeting vulnerable communities
EBT fraud particularly impacts the nation's most vulnerable communities. Criminals time their fraudulent withdrawals around monthly government assistance deposits intended to help families pay for food and basic necessities.
"When you think of an individual recipient getting $300 to $1,200 per month in food benefits, and you divide that into the $428.1 million in potential losses, you are talking about hundreds of thousands of people that would not have been getting their benefits," said Michael Peck, Assistant Special Agent in Charge in the Secret Service's Criminal Investigative Division, according to the agency.
Financial experts warn it's easier to recover stolen money from credit cards than debit cards. And scammers rarely are able to steal information from tap to pay transactions, but many skimmers are designed to block tap-to-pay and chip reading functions, forcing customers to swipe their cards instead.
Detective Green has changed his own payment habits because of what he's seen in investigations.
"I would never swipe my card. At this point I will not swipe it. So if something doesn't work with tap to pay or chip, I either pay in cash or I go elsewhere," Detective Green said.
Protection tips from federal agents
The Secret Service recommends several precautions consumers can take:
- Inspect ATMs, point-of-sale terminals and other card readers for anything loose, crooked, damaged, or scratched
- Use tap-to-pay technology or chip-enabled cards whenever possible
- At gas stations, run debit cards as credit to avoid entering PIN numbers
- Cover your hand when entering PINs to block potential cameras
- Use well-lit, indoor ATMs when possible
- Stay alert in tourist areas, which are popular targets
- Both the Secret Service and Mesa Police advise paying close attention to your bank accounts and avoiding any ATM or card terminal that looks suspicious or unusual.
The Secret Service plans to continue nationwide operations in 2026 and beyond, working with local, state, federal and international partners to dismantle criminal organizations behind these schemes.
ABC15 asked authorities for the specific locations of stores and banks where skimmers have been found in Arizona, but the Secret Service said that information is not publicly available as it is used for their investigations.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
