Searching for "debit" brings up this:

> In addition to presenting the value associated with a card, the terminal will read other card types such as credit and debit cards. While no value can be provided, the terminal will display a “card not supported” message to alert the trooper that this is not a prepaid card. The trooper can then compare the four digits displayed on the terminal with the last four digits shown on the face of the card to determine if the card has been cloned. If the last four digits on the face of the card do not match the four digits displayed on the terminal, the trooper should note the discrepancy and pursue further action in the investigation.

I'm not really sure why they compare the last 4 digits to detect a clone, that seems wrong to me. But in any case, that strongly implies that they can't seize from debit cards linked to bank accounts. They can only seize from prepaid cards.

"I'm not really sure why they compare the last 4 digits to detect a clone, that seems wrong to me."

It catches lazy counterfeiting. Stamp a whole bunch of cards with the same number and info, while the magstripe is what gets read and is the real account you're stealing from, the theory being that no-one really cares about the number printed on the card.

Some retailers do this too, ask or enter the last four of the card to make sure the imprint matches the magstripe, as if they don't it's most likely a cloned card.

I particularly enjoy when a cashier asks me to read the last 4 digits of the card, rather than following the instructions on the terminal (which say something like "Give card to cashier...").

Oh. I had no idea why they did this. That makes sense. I guess I just figured it was so easy to PROPERLY clone and stamp a card, that it didn't cross my mind..

More than that, in the case of cards that use the credit card numbering system, instead of just ordinary bank cards, the number itself is algorithmically generated and the last 4 digits (specifically the very last one) act as a kind of hash check (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luhn_algorithm). Not that police or cashiers are likely to know that.

Oh huh! I had no idea.

Thank you. This is the piece of information I was looking for. Essentially they will drain any prepaid cards while validating credit and debits. This makes the 'fraud reversal' technique mentioned elsewhere in this thread infeasible, as to my knowledge you can't do a reversal on prepaid cards.