I bought food at a convenience store and was left with 78 cents – a hidden device stole my data in seconds

SKIMMING Devices Nationwide Targeting Struggling Americans and Their Electronic Benefits Transfer Cards

Low-income residents in many states have been victims of scams that drain their EBT accounts. For residents of Jacksonville, Florida, two gas stations located six miles apart caused most of the damage.

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LaQuanda Griffin went to a gas station near her home when she swiped her card on a fraudulent scanner that read her card.

Skimming devices are sneaky card readers that secretly fit into ATMs or self-checkout machine pin pads.

Therefore, when someone swipes their card, they are giving the scammer all of their information, including their card number and PIN.

“We got something to drink, grabbed a few bags of chips and I checked out. I spent about $14.55.” Griffin told the local CW affiliate WJXT-TV.

It wasn’t until her mother borrowed her card to go shopping hours later that she realized she only had 78 cents left on her card.

“I felt so many different things,” Griffin said.

“I’m looking at my daughter who was in the store, getting the things she wanted, and I had to leave them in the basket and leave because someone stole them from us.

Meanwhile, just six miles away at another gas station, Shannon Adams says her mother fell victim to the same scam.

“It’s like a funnel,” Adams says he discovered.

“They take the money from this 9/11 and funnel it to a store in Chicago,” he explained.

Adams says after her mother left a review on the Chicago store reporting the robbery, other Jacksonville residents began contacting her and said they were also scammed by the same store in the same way.

Now Griffin and Adams are awaiting an investigation by the Department of Children and Families before they can have their funds refunded.

“There has been an increase in ATM robberies across the country over the last 18 to 24 months,” Karon Ransom, special agent in charge of the Secret Service’s Las Vegas field office, told the local ABC affiliate. KTNV-TV.

Since 2021, skimming reports have increased 368%, according to data of Fair Isaac Corporation, or FICO.

Additionally, low-income Americans, defined as those living in households that earn less than $50,000 a year, are twice as likely to be scammed as those in higher tax brackets, according to the study. data reported by Gallup.

“Every month, money is deposited into government assistance accounts designed to help families pay for food and other basic needs,” Ransom said.

“EBT fraud targets the country’s most vulnerable communities,” she continued.