BALTIMORE — The U.S. Secret Service, best known for guarding the president, spent two days in Baltimore this month focused on a different kind of security — the digital kind.

Agents swept nearly 500 businesses across the region, inspecting gas pumps, ATMs and checkout terminals for “skimmers” — devices criminals use to steal card information from unsuspecting customers.

By the end of the operation, agents had confiscated 22 skimming devices, a haul that federal officials estimate prevented $22.9 million in potential losses.

“Whoever is there at the time, we explain to them how to check the machines, and show them what kind of devices that we have been finding and what they feel like, what they look like, and what's the best way to remove them and then contact us,” said Vincent Porter, a

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