 Card reader scams. The reason here in the past two years, the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services is tracking the scam since April of 2022. Seattle Times with a story saying the agency is taking steps to reimburse recipients for benefits they lose, but described an alarming surge in fraud. Officials said they began tracking the problem after it was noticed an uptick in incidents with an upcoming round of reimbursements. EBT card reader scams happen when a thief places a device on a retailer's card swiping machine.