Washington's EBT card is now considered among the most vulnerable targets of the card skimming scheme in the U.S. As of writing, more and more Americans are becoming victims of card skimmers.
Based on statistics, debit and credit card skimming schemes increased by over 79% from 2021 to 2022. Financial company FICO warned that roughly 70% of fraud cases in the United States are tied to skimmers in five states.
These are New York, Florida, Pennsylvania, California, and Washington. If you commonly use your credit or debit card, here's what you need to know about the worsening card skimming in the U.S.
Washington's EBT Card Most Vulnerable to Worsening Card Skimming
Hundreds of people wait in line for hours at a downtown Brooklyn office for their EBT Food Stamp cards on May 12, 2020 in New York City. Across America, people are reeling from the loss of jobs and incomes as unemployment soars to historical levels following the COVID-19 outbreak.
Yahoo News reported that credit and debit cards are not the only targets of card skimmers. In fact, even EBT (electronic benefit transfer) cards are now becoming more vulnerable to these fraudsters.
For those who are not familiar with EBTs, these are similar to debit cards since they are used by government assistance to send funds to people who are in need. Numerous state governments can track these cards using their own EBT systems.
Since EBT cards usually have funds, card skimmers are becoming more interested in them. Babs Roberts, a staff of Washing State Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS), confirmed that over 2,000 of their clients lost $1.6 million in benefits.
She said that this is because they were targeted by card skimmers between April 2022 and October 2023.
"I think the impact on the clients is most difficult to deal with because it is totally not their fault that this is happening," explained Roberts.
Javelin Strategy and Research's Director of Fraud and Security Tracy Kitten suggested using a chip that can make card skimming harder to pull off.
"With the advent of the chip, which could be a tap-and-go payment or where you actually insert the card into the card reader, and it prevents the ability to capture those card details from the magnetic stripe," said Kitten.
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What Americans Can Do To Protect EBT Cards
Illinois Department of Human Services office clerk Elizabeth Nichols demonstrates the activation an Illinois Link card, an electronic debit-like card used in place of the traditional food stamp, using a POS machine similar to the card reader a recipient would use at a given redemption location, June 24, 2004 at an Illinois Department of Human Services office.
Forbes reported that the best thing Americans can do to avoid card skimmers is to identify if an ATM or other devices used for card transactions are skimmed.
For example, they can check if the alignment between the card reader and the panel underneath is suspicious. This is because skimmers use their malicious device on top of the card reader.
This is why it usually sticks out at an odd angle or covers arrows in the panel. Another thing you can do is manually inspect the card reader and keypad.
You can check if the keypad wiggles or if there's something covering the card reader. If ever you notice something suspicious, the best thing you can do is ask for assistance from the staff or security guards there.
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