A leading High Street bank has introduced a solution to the escalating crisis of cash machine fraud.

Barclays has fitted equipment to cashpoints in and around Brighton which stops gangs attaching skimming devices used to clone card information.

The anti-fraud technology has virtually eradicated card crime at automated teller machines (ATMs) in Europe by acting as a physical barrier to skimming machines.

If any attempt is made to remove the equipment, the cash machine is disabled and money is no longer given out.

Barclays Sussex area director Kirsty Baker said: "ATM fraud is a nationwide problem which is affecting all of the banks, including many here in Brighton.

"The criminals are getting increasingly sophisticated and the industry is working hard to keep one step ahead of them."

Sussex Police were contacted by a customer on Wednesday who believed they had found a faulty cashpoint.

But when officers contacted Barclays they were told ATMs in the area had been fitted with anti-fraud equipment and were included in 100 trial locations across the UK.

If the scheme proves successful, Barclays has pledged to distribute the devices to branches across the country.

Police receive five reports each day of cash disappearing from bank accounts using cloned information in Brighton and Hove.

Criminals, believed to be mainly East Europeans working for international gangs, are thought to have netted £1 million from skimming devices in the city.

Brighton CID unveiled Operation Keypad to combat the cash card crime earlier this month, while some banks reduced the maximum amount of cash customers could remove from cashpoints.

A Sussex Police spokeswoman said: "Because this type of fraud is such a prolific problem the banks have got to act. We welcome any attempt to deter people from committing this crime and we hope other banks follow suit."