BEWARE of cashpoint scammers who can con unwitting victims out of thousands of pounds.
That is the warning from Surrey Police after a so-called skimming device was found on a cash machine outside Tesco's supermarket in Coulsdon Road, Caterham, on June 28.
Tandridge Neighbourhood Inspector Angie Austin said the perpetrators would usually work on just one machine in a day, meaning minimal tampering is needed with the cash machine during daylight hours.
She added: "The device we seized will have all the data the criminals want, potentially with thousands of pounds on it."
Police are advising cashpoint users to make sure no-one is hanging around looking over their shoulder, to check the front of the cash machine before they use it and ensure they cover up as they tap in their PIN code.
One woman who knows from bitter experience how these "card-trapping" scams work is Clare Brown.
She had £650 stolen from her account within hours of her bank card being swallowed up by a cash machine.
The incident happened at a Barclays cashpoint in Lingfield High Street last year.
One customer at that cashpoint noticed that within minutes there were three unauthorised withdrawals from their account at a nearby petrol station, totalling £750.
Two other customers reported unauthorised transactions of £300 each after using the same machine.
Miss Brown, formerly of West Street, Dormansland, said her card did not come out of the machine after she had entered her PIN.
It is believed it was trapped in a device attached to the cash machine by thieves, as two men lurked nearby.
She thinks a camera must also have been watching her so the crooks knew her PIN once they had removed the device with her card in it.
A Barclays spokeswoman said: "Unfortunately, fraud is a problem for the whole banking industry and we have recently seen a slightly different type of attack. We advise customers to always be vigilant when using their bank cards. Be wary of anybody who is nearby or approaches when you are using the ATM."