Card-skimming machine is discovered at Hayling supermarket

Staff at Tesco in Station Road, Hayling Island saw it on Tuesday evening.

PCSO Neil Roberts from the Hayling Neighbourhood Policing Team believes the skimming machine had only been attached for 24 hours.

He said: ‘It’s out now and being looked at by experts.

‘Generally these devices take off the number of the cash cards and the expiry date.

‘But because we have the device in our possession the perpetrators do not have access to that information.

‘They are not operated wirelessly so the information has not been taken.

‘For them to get the information they want they would need to retrieve the device.

‘The staff at Tesco acted as soon as they realised what was going on.

‘We believe it had only been put there the previous evening –at some point overnight between Monday and Tuesday.

‘The device has now been sent to scenes of crime officers for testing and we are looking at the CCTV evidence.’

Some of the more sophisticated cashpoints now have the technology to prevent skimming machines from working.

But the scammers get around this by putting them out of action by jamming them with things such as clubcards – forcing people to use other cashpoints nearby that are still susceptible to the card reading devices.

Hayling West councillor Andy Lenaghan has urged people who have used the cashpoint recently to contact their bank to make sure nothing has been taken from their account.

He added: ‘I know it’s not the first time this has happened. It’s really concerning.’

Anyone who spots what they believe to be a skimming device should, in the first instance, contact the bank it belongs to and then the police on 
101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.