Fraudster are conning bank customers out of thousands of pounds with a simple device called a loop.

Police are investigating the activities of a gang targeting hole-in-the-wall machine users across West Sussex.

A 24-year-old man, from London, has already been arrested but police are urging the public to be vigilant after the device was used more than 12 times in Chichester and Bognor, and at least twice in Worthing.

The fraud works by inserting a plastic device into the card slot, making it impossible for the machine to read the magnetic strip.

The card is then trapped and the customer leaves believing it has been retained by the bank, allowing the fraudster to return, remove the device and take the customer's card with them.

Earlier this month, a member of the public lost £250 after using a machine in Broadwater Street West, Worthing.

Officers said a loop was also used at a building society in Goring, Worthing, on February 26 but the customer realised what was going on.

She seized the loop and went into a shop nearby, where she watched as a man checked the machine and then made a phone call.

The suspect is described as white, 6ft 2in, of medium build and in his 20s.

He was smartly dressed and was wearing a white jacket with a thick dark blue stripe down each sleeve.

Tuesday March 18 2003