Credit card skimming reports are on the rise in Texas, drawing the attention of a new state agency.

The newly formed Texas Financial Crimes Intelligence Center (FCIC), based in Tyler, is devoted to mitigating this crime across the state.

The FCIC was established in January 2022 with the passage of House Bill 2106. The bill created the new agency with a partnership between the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation and the Smith County District Attorney’s Office.

“The FCIC works with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies as well as financial institutions, credit card and debit card issuers, payment card networks, merchants, and the fuel industry, to stop credit card fraud,” the center’s website reads. “The Center also develops and provides training to law enforcement and industry partners on identifying and combating credit card fraud.”

Skimming, one of the center’s main areas of focus, occurs when criminals use devices installed on electronic point-of-sale terminals to record credit card data when in use. The FBI reports that this crime typically occurs at ATMs or gas station pumps.

Criminals then use this information to make fake credit and debit cards to access a victim’s bank account. This scamming practice reportedly costs victims and institutions about $1 billion annually.

Adam Colby, director of the FCIC, told CBS News Texas that the perpetrators behind the skimming are often large and organized criminal organizations.

Colby said that he had seen cases of this crime happen across a large portion of the state, including North Texas.

“Most of the groups we’re working are committing crimes in half the counties in Texas, and sometimes multiple states,” said Colby, according to CBS News.

Dallas has seen successive year-over-year increases in credit card/ATM fraud, with reports rising from 263 incidents in 2020 to 324 last year — a 23.2% spike — according to figures from the City of Dallas Open Data crime analytics dashboard.

Colby said that the FCIC had “intercepted, prevented or recovered $100 million in losses just in Texas” in its first fifteen months of operation.

Most credit cards in use currently use a chip in order to conduct transactions. However, Colby said that because magnetic strips on the card still remain, skimmers can still access personal information and steal it.

“We are now just a target for every bad actor in the world because of the way our financial system is set up,” said Colby, according to CBS News. “Primarily because we’re one of the only countries left in the world that still use a magnetic stripe on our bank cards,” he continued.

The FBI has identified a number of ways that civilians can protect themselves. These measures include inspecting card readers before inserting cards, using ATMs in well-lit areas, using debit and credit cards with a chip, and using a credit card instead of a debit card when you have linked accounts.

The Dallas Express reached out to the FCIC for additional information or comment but received no response by the publication deadline.