A 63-year-old man has had a three figure some of money stolen from his account through an ATM scam on Ayr’s Sandgate.

It is claimed that between 9.46pm and 10pm last Thursday, September the man attended the cash line to withdraw money but his card appeared to be retained.

The Ayr Advertiser Series understands that in that time slot someone has returned and withdrawn a three figure sum of money from the account.

Police are appealing for witnesses or anyone who noticed anything suspicious or someone working on the machine at that time to get in touch via the non emergency number on 101 or alternatively they can call Crimestoppers where anonymity can be maintained.

Local officers also want to raise awareness about the various types of scams many are conned by.

One of the major cash machine scams fraudsters use involves fitting ‘skimmer’ devices to cash machines that, once in place, will record card details.

For this reason, the first thing customers should do when they approach a cash machine is check the card slot to check that there is nothing unusual about its appearance.

These ‘skimmers’ are usually attached over the slot where a card is entered and spray painted to match so it can be hard to spot them.
Another major cash machine scam involves using hidden cameras to capture your card details and most importantly your pin number.

These cameras can be hidden in seemingly inconspicuous places including panels above the cash machine or in fake bank leaflet stands to the side of the machine.

Card traps work by jamming a debit card in the machine allowing a fraudster to retrieve it at a later date. Peak times for card trap fraudsters are Friday evenings when lots of people are withdrawing cash and when banks will be closed.