The Secret Service says the city has become a hotbed of EBT card skimming.
The agency launched an operation searching stores to uncover the devices that allow criminals to drain accounts and potentially leave victims without the money to buy food for weeks.
Special Agent McCool has led security details for powerful world leaders and now leads members of the Secret Service and other law enforcement in a three-day operation to protect vulnerable communities.
"We got 14 teams, that are going out going to stores looking at ATM point of sales terminals, gas stations, and we're looking for skimmers," he said.
NYC has been a hotbed for EBT Skimming, where hidden devices steal payment information after a person swipes their card.
"The last operation, we found 65 over the three days. The one before that, we found 55. The last year we found a total of 133. So we estimate thats about $139 million in fraud loss prevented," McCool said.
Before tagging along for the operation, McCool showed a close look at what they're aiming to spot.
They're trying to spot point of sale machines that may be storing information illegally.
"Here's your regular point of sale terminal as you would come up and make your purchases. What they will do is come in and insert the device. It takes all of two seconds," Detective James Lilla said. "They will come back and extract it at some point, on this one it would have to be physically removed like the skimming devices at another point."
The Secret Service and law enforcement agencies visited bodegas and stores that may be an easy target to give business owners a crash course on what to look out for.
"The message is we're going to be knocking on your doors someday soon. We have folks that are good at investigating these crimes, and we're going to hold you accountable," McCool said.