Secret Service agents spent two days combing through Portland, checking 238 businesses, 377 point-of-sale terminals, 156 ATMs and 375 gas pumps for illegal card-skimming devices. They didn't find a single one. But officials say that doesn't mean the mission failed — it means Portland business owners just got a crash course in spotting the next one before it drains someone's grocery money.
No Skimmers Found, But Officials Call It a Win
The two-day operation, reported by KPTV, had agents visiting businesses that accept SNAP benefits across the Portland area. While no skimmers turned up during the sweep, officials told the station they still consider the operation a success because of the outreach and education it provided to local merchants. The effort was also covered by KGW, which detailed the scope of the checks.
The Secret Service, working alongside the Portland Police Bureau, has been going around the Portland area specifically to find skimming devices, according to KOIN. The same report notes that a skimming device was found earlier this year at a southeast Portland Supermercado, discovered only after customers noticed their EBT accounts had been emptied.
Why EBT Cards Are an Easy Target
The core vulnerability comes down to outdated technology. The debit-style EBT cards used by SNAP recipients do not have chips built in, the station's report explains, which means criminals target EBT and SNAP recipient card numbers because, as one official put it, to them that means cash. Oregon cards do not have a chip, forcing users to swipe with the magnetic strip, according to the same KOIN report — a method that is far easier for thieves to capture with a hidden skimmer than a chip transaction.
The station notes that criminals have gotten more sophisticated over time, using tools like 3D printing and counterfeit security stickers that make skimmers harder to detect even for trained eyes. Some devices can stay installed permanently, quietly transmitting stolen data over Bluetooth rather than requiring a thief to physically retrieve them.
Millions in Stolen Benefits Across Oregon
The scale of the problem is already substantial. More than $3 million in SNAP benefits have been stolen in Oregon over just the last two years, per the same KOIN account, which cites figures from the U.S. Attorney's Office. Separately, Oregon's Department of Human Services told state lawmakers in January that thieves had stolen more than $4 million from 10,625 cardholders over the preceding three years, according to The Oregonian.
Federal prosecutors have pursued criminal cases tied to the theft. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Oregon has said at least 40 people are facing federal charges for allegedly conspiring to defraud the United States of more than $3 million in fraudulent SNAP purchases, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. In a separate case detailed by the same office, two Romanian nationals living in the country unlawfully were indicted after allegedly installing a skimming device on a retail point-of-sale terminal in Tigard in September 2025 to capture EBT account data and customers' PINs; both were arraigned, pleaded not guilty and were ordered detained pending trial.
Oregon's Chip-Card Rollout Is Months Away
Oregon's long-term solution is chip-embedded EBT cards, but the rollout has been slow. The state's Department of Human Services asked the Legislature in January for $6.8 million to launch what it called a mass replacement of food stamp benefit cards, The Oregonian reported. Now, the Oregon Department of Human Services says Oregon plans to begin a pilot program for new chipped EBT cards with 1,000 cardholders in December, with new cards expected to be mailed statewide in two phases in early 2027, according to KATU.
Until then, Oregon is behind much of the country. California is the only state to have fully switched to chip-embedded SNAP cards, while six other states were in the process of doing so as of January, per The Oregonian's report. Oregon also said it has been unable to replace funds stolen from recipients since federal reimbursement funding for that purpose ran out in late 2024, the outlet reported.
What the Secret Service Recommends
In the meantime, officials are urging Oregonians to protect themselves with the tools already available. The Secret Service recommends using tap-to-pay when available, or a chip card if contactless payment isn't an option, KATU reported. For SNAP recipients stuck with chip-less Oregon Trail Cards, officials are advising people to freeze the cards when they aren't actively being used.
Nationally, the scale of the fraud is staggering. Fraudsters take more than a billion dollars using skimming devices every year, according to KOIN's reporting. The Secret Service has offered differing national tallies for its own crackdown: KPTV reported the operations have removed more than 400 skimming devices since 2024, while KATU reported a Secret Service official saying nationwide operations have removed more than 700 skimmers and prevented just under $1 billion in fraud losses since the financial crimes mission began in 2024.
