Sounds like chips and phone are safer than the mag strip. SNAP uses mag strip, so quite vulnerable to skimming.

• 💳 Card-skimming scams cost financial institutions and U.S. consumers over a billion dollars each year.
• 💳 Skimming is a cat-and-mouse game between the criminals and the investigators; when one side finds a way to stop it, the other side finds a new way around it.
• 💳 Vulnerable groups, such as low-income Americans, are increasingly being targeted by skimmers. In particular, the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) program is vulnerable to skimming.
• 💳 SNAP cards use a magnetic stripe that is easily hacked because it is not as secure as the chip that stores started accepting back in 2015.
• 💳 Every one dollar skimmed ends up costing nearly four dollars in loss, which is passed on to every taxpayer.
• 💳 Lawmakers from multiple states are urging the USDA to update cybersecurity standards for the nation's food assistance program, as it has not done so since 2010.
• 💳 The USDA is testing a pilot program in five states next year that will allow SNAP recipients to try tap-to-pay, a more secure payment method.
• 💳 Law enforcement and business owners are being trained to stop skimming.

Very easy method for check fraud...just acetone to remove added ink.

Unibal 207 - pigment ink

Use gel ink, it penetrates paper better
mail letter w/ check from post office, not a box

In the past, con men were able to charm people one-on-one with a nice attire, great vocabulary and a likable personality. While they were captivating in person, modern day con artists are anything but that. They work remotely behind computers and in their pajamas, where it’s easy to take everything without any compassion.

Ex-con man Frank Abagnale, made famous in the movie "Catch Me If You Can," says technology may have changed the ways scammers operate, but it has not changed how scams work. To spot them, there are two red flags that are in almost every scam.

Flag one: Artists will say they need money urgently. Whether it’s money or card information. They often obtain this through a romance scam, where the artists will target those looking for a relationship.

Flag two: Artists will ask for personal information. They will often call or email as a bank fraud agent. By evoking fear into their victims, they can easily obtain the credit card security codes or social security numbers.

fraud.transunion.com