Garage fraud probe as money swiped from drivers' accounts

Fraud squad officers have launched an investigation into the allegations, which centre around the Shell garage in Mayfield Road, Easthouses, Dalkeith.

Customers who visited the Midlothian garage complained to their banks after discovering that the cash was missing.

Among those known to be affected are customers with the Royal Bank of Scotland, which today urged any other victims to come forward.

Police chiefs today said the inquiry remained "at an early stage" after being first reported to the force around three days ago.

Officers from the force's Specialist Fraud Unit, based at Musselburgh police station, are still working to determine whether the money was taken using a card skimming device attached to an ATM machine at the garage or a similar device used inside its shop.

Thefts may be the work of card-cloners similar to a gang which targeted more than 100 drivers at an Edinburgh petrol station in February last year.

The gang managed to grab tens of thousands of pounds from the drivers' accounts after copying their card details at the BP garage in Barclay Place, Bruntsfield. An employee who later fled and was on the run from police was believed to have been involved in the scheme.

The victims then found withdrawals, totalling up to 1500 in some cases, being made in places as far afield as Germany and the south of England.

The cardholders' details were copied by a "skimming" device attached to the station's chip and pin machine at the Costcutter shop at the petrol station.

When drivers made payments, the magnetic strip on their card was digitally copied by the skimmer, and they were watched – or possibly filmed by a tiny hidden camera – entering their personal pin numbers.

Cloned cards were later produced to withdraw money from the owners' accounts.

A Royal Bank of Scotland spokeswoman said: "Fraud is an industry-wide issue which can affect all banks and where there is any evidence of fraudulent activity, we work closely with the police and other relevant authorities to tackle this crime.

"RBS takes the issue of fraud extremely seriously and has stringent processes in place, which we constantly review, to identify fraudulent activity and protect our customers. If any customers believe they may have been affected by fraud, they should contact their bank as soon as possible."

An employee at the garage last night refused to comment on the investigation.

A police spokeswoman said: "Officers from our fraud unit are making inquiries into this case, which is still at an early stage."