National Geographic Special: Inside the U.S. Secret Service

The U.S. Secret Service is best known for guarding the President of the United States. Most of us have seen the agents in dark glasses shadowing the President, scanning the surroundings for any possible threats.

But few people may know that the U.S. Secret Service was created to combat counterfeiting. And it may come as a surprise that half of the Secret Service staff today is dedicated to investigating counterfeit currency.

The Secret Service also has responsibility under Title 18 USC Section 1029 for losses related to access devices (i.e., bank and other credit cards).

Although it is commonly called the credit card statute, this law also applies to other crimes involving access device numbers including debit cards, automated teller machine (ATM) cards, computer passwords, personal identification numbers (PINs) used to activate ATMs, credit card or debit card account numbers, long-distance access codes, and the computer chips in cellular phones that assign billing.