Ref: 12835/1CASHPOINT users have had thousands of pounds drained from their bank accounts thanks to a small device crooks fixed to the front of an automated cash dispenser in Marlborough.

Two of the other bank cashpoints in the High Street were stuffed with cardboard to put them out of action, forcing customers to use the machine outside Barclays, which had been rigged.

Now police are warning anyone who used the machine over the Easter weekend, including the bank holiday Monday, to check their bank accounts in case they too have become victims of the scam.

The crooks, who are believed to be London based because that is where withdrawals were made with cloned cards, had installed a card reader fitted with a micro-chip over the slot at the Barclays cash point. It was designed to look like a part of the machine.

Its possible, said police, that dozens if not hundreds of people used the cash point without noticing the device stuck over the card slot with sticky pads.

The scam was only revealed to police when one eagle-eyed customer spotted the device and removed it.

Police are not sure whether the device was capable of transmitting card information to a receiver in a nearby car or whether the crooks had to remove the device occasionally to download the cards' details.

WPC Emma Brown, who is investigating the incident, said the device recorded card details but did not appear to be capable of recording the pin numbers that were vital for the thieves to make cash withdrawals.

WPC Brown said: "There had to be some sort of camera device within the machine or close to it to record people entering their pin numbers."

Sgt Julian Riches said it was possible that one of the thieves or an accomplice stood close enough to watch pin numbers being entered.

He said: "They were either using a camera or were standing close by so that they could see the pin numbers being put in."

Police have heard from four victims whose cards were cloned over the Easter weekend and subsequently used to drain their bank accounts.

One Marlborough mother-of-two lost more than £500, while a local father-of-three found several thousands missing from his account when he went to withdraw cash only to be told no funds were available. The dad, who asked not to be identified, said he had a daily withdrawal limit of £500 and a cloned card had been used at several London area banks to withdraw cash over a period of days.

"When I checked my account I found there had been withdrawals in Barking, East Ham, West Ham and Ilford."

He said he had not spotted anything different about the cashpoint.

He added: "I have been in touch with my bank and I am hopeful I will get the money back.

"There must be a lot of people who have not looked at their bank statements and might not realise their cards have been cloned."

A spokeswoman at Barclays Bank said: "If any fraud is committed on a customer's account we will normally reimburse it."

Anyone with information about the scam should ring Marlborough Police Station on (01672) 512311.