Telford nurse loses £650 to cashpoint fraudsters
A newly-qualified nurse from Telford has fallen victim to fraudsters who installed a device on a cash machine to steal her debit card and then withdrew hundreds of pounds in cash.
Toni Nicholls, from Madeley, attempted to withdraw money from a cash machine at Morrisons but left empty-handed after it failed to return her card.
She went home and by the time she had cancelled her card she was told by her bank Barclays that the thieves had already taken more than £650. She said: "I tried to get £100 out of my bank to do my shopping. Putting the card in was a little bit tight but nothing unusual.
"When it was trying to give me my card, the machine told me to contact my bank provider, then said Windows is shutting down.
"What happened is they put something on the cash machine so when the card comes back out it catches it and they can go and pick it up."
Bank records show the thieves visited the cash machine just four minutes after it had taken her card and withdrew £100 from the machine, £200 from another, before spending £200 in Wilkinsons and more than £150 in several transactions in Morrisons.
Miss Nicholls said she will struggle to pay bills which are due to come out of her bank this week.
She added: "I wanted people to know that this sort of thing is happening. I put a status on my Facebook page just to tell people but I also wanted to make sure people know."
Jonathan Brenchley, spokesman for Barclays, said: "If your card is withheld or you notice any suspicious behaviour please notify your bank straight away.
"The customer has already been refunded in relation to the ATM withdrawals which took place at Morrisons Wellington. If a customer is an innocent victim of fraud, we have a policy which ensures they are refunded any losses."
Toby Shergold, spokesman for West Mercia Police, said: "If anyone steals a card then we will deal with it but if the card is being used fraudulently then it will be dealt with by the bank."
Morrisons spokesman George Kotschy said the store's cash machines were run by banks.
Police in the West Midlands have issued a warning about so-called 'Lebanese loops'. The scam traps cards in ATM machines by a carefully placed strip of metal or plastic.
The devices are inserted into the card slot and are long enough to prevent the card from not fitting in properly.
When the ATM tries to eject the card, a 'lip' at the end of the loop prevents the card from being ejected and the machine draws the card back in, leaving the victim to believe that their card has been retained.
