The La Plata Police Department Has Seen an Increase in Fraud with Residents Utilizing Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards: There has been a regionwide increase in fraud relating to EBT Cards.
What has actually happened? The cases have largely been targeted through skimming. This is a process where a device that looks nearly identical to a credit card machine is attached to a store checkout payment machine. When the customer swipes their card, they are unknowingly swiping through the skimming device. This is how the scammers obtain access to account information and password.
Always inspect the credit card reader. If it wiggles easily, the alignment feels off or the protective seal on the cabinet is broken, it might have been tampered with.
