NEW YORK CITY — The Secret Service initiated a three-day operation in New York City on June 26, 2026, to identify and remove EBT card skimming devices from retail stores and ATMs. Special Agent McCool led the Secret Service and other law enforcement agencies during the operation.

The operation involved 14 teams searching for skimmers at ATMs, point-of-sale terminals, and gas stations. "We got 14 teams, that are going out going to stores looking at ATM point of sales terminals, gas stations, and we're looking for skimmers," McCool said. "The last operation, we found 65 over the three days. The one before that, we found 55. The last year, we found a total of 133. So we estimate that's about $139 million in fraud loss prevented," McCool said.

Law enforcement officers visited bodegas and other stores to inform business owners about identifying skimming devices. Detective James Lilla demonstrated the method criminals use to insert these devices into point-of-sale terminals. "Here's your regular point of sale terminal, as you would come up and make your purchases. What they will do is come in and insert the device. It takes all of two seconds," Lilla said. He added that criminals return to retrieve the device. "They will come back and extract it at some point. On this one, it would have to be physically removed like the skimming devices at another point," Lilla said.

McCool stated that accountability awaited those involved. "The message is we're going to be knocking on your doors someday soon. We have folks that are good at investigating these crimes, and we're going to hold you accountable," McCool said.