Lawrence County deputies seize credit card skimmers hidden in stores

LAWRENCE COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) — According to the U.S. Secret Service, law enforcement agencies have seen a nationwide increase in skimming over the past 18 to 24 months, particularly targeting electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards.

The Secret Service said EBT fraud affects vulnerable and indigent communities because the thieves steal money from government-funded assistance accounts designed to help people buy food and other necessities.

That’s certainly been the case in Lawrence County these last few weeks.

After 13 EBT fraud reports totaling almost $10,000, the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office told News 2 that investigators went looking for clues. On Wednesday, July 17, they hit the jackpot.

Sgt. Garrett Brown, Chief Deputy George Barturen, and other members of the sheriff’s office went to retail outlets where skimmers might flourish Wednesday morning.

It didn’t take long for authorities to find one skimming device at a Lawrenceburg store, a second device at a Loretto store, and a third device at a Summertown store.

“We have reports of EBT cards being compromised — both the card numbers and the pin numbers to the cards. The skimmer, itself, is either going to go over this whole machine, or it can be just installed over the keypad area. It’s going to look exactly like the machine,” Brown explained. “You can even look at the back and there might be some type of a device that connects wirelessly with another device, and if it moves — just the front face moves — it more than likely is a skimmer.”

“So they’re basically just laying their trap all over Middle Tennessee and when I go use my card, they capture my information and they take out as much as they can when they can?” News 2’s Andy Cordan asked.

“Yes sir,” the sergeant replied.

According to Brown, the EBT card data is stolen by the card skimmers and transmitted to people who clone the cards, which are used in New York, California, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky.

Deputies said the Lawrence County victims’ state authorized EBT accounts were quickly drained.

“We pay taxes, and those taxes go to the EBT funds, so I would say everybody is a victim in this case,” Brown said.

Lawrence County authorities said they hope to pull surveillance footage from the stores to identify the suspects.

News 2 also spoke with members of the Columbia Police Department, who said they worked 85 EBT fraud cases from May 1 to June 15. Just like in Lawrenceburg, investigators said they found a card skimmer at a popular retail store.