Overview

• Operation Flagship, a three-day enforcement campaign, launched on May 21 to dismantle skimming schemes targeting EBT and debit cards in New York City.
• Authorities have confiscated 14 skimming devices, including three clone devices, during initial operations in Brooklyn and Staten Island.
• Investigators traced cloned EBT readers to a Bushwick bodega, where unlicensed devices were seized, though no arrests have been made yet.
• The initiative will expand to over 700 stores citywide, combining enforcement with community awareness to protect low-income and elderly populations reliant on public assistance cards.
• EBT cards, which lack chip-based fraud protection, are exploited by transnational crime groups, contributing to an estimated $18 billion in annual benefit fraud.