Thousands of pounds have been cleaned out of York bank accounts in what police fear could be a hi-tech scam hitting banks across the country.

York police say they have received more than 20 calls from people in the last two days complaining that money has mysteriously disappeared from their accounts.

Among those who lost out are a couple from Rose Street, who say they had £750 taken out of their HSBC account over the Bank Holiday weekend.

The couple, who wish to remain anonymous, discovered the fraud when they telephoned their bank on Tuesday and discovered their balance was far less than they expected.

"The bank told us that was because £250 had been taken out on the Friday night and two further sums of £250 had been taken out on Bank Holiday Monday," said one of the victims.

"We went into the bank yesterday to check the situation and later received a phone call to say we would be reimbursed.

"They also told us it was part of some national fraud where some sort of covering is put over cashpoint keyboards.

"This records all the information from your card and the fraudsters hang on until a Bank Holiday and then use it to make withdrawals.

"HSBC were very good and have got everything sorted out quite quickly."

York police have a growing list of complaints.

A police spokesman said they believed the fraudulent withdrawals were part of a national problem, which was affecting several of the large banks, including the Nat West and HSBC.

"We have had a lot of complaints regarding withdrawals from banks, and we are investigating it at the moment," said the spokesman.

"We have had about 20 come in over the past two days from people who have lost upwards of £250 from their account.

"Inquiries are continuing to establish how these fraud withdrawals have been made, but we suspect the problem in York is just the tip of the iceberg.

"If people are concerned about their account, they should contact their own bank and check their balance."

HSBC staff confirmed today they had been warned about the scam and the bank said it was working with other banks, including the Nat West, through the Association for Payment and Clearing Services (APACS) to tackle the problem.

Richard Tyson-Davies, of APACS, which co-ordinates the fight against plastic card fraud, told the Evening Press that very sophisticated technology was being used to copy customers' card details.

"It appears something is being put over the pin pad which records the customers' information," he said.

"But this would be very difficult to spot and we do not expect customers would notice it.

"The first people are likely to know about it is when they get a statement because whoever is doing this usually asks for a balance first to ensure they don't overdraw the account.

"We know people need to use cash points and we would advise them to continue to do so."

Anyone seeing anything suspicious at a cash machine should ring the Nat West bank helpline on 0113 277 8899.

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