A WOMAN from Bordon spoke of her shock when she found her bank account cleaned out after using a cash machine targeted by hi-tech thieves. Leanne Casey said she discovered that £70 had been drawn out of her account by someone in Holland after she made a withdrawal from the right-hand cash machine (the one nearest the door) outside Bordon Tesco on Tuesday, February 6. Police officers and building-society staff told her it was most likely her card details had been copied by a scanning device fitted to the cash machine by thieves, one of whom had watched her enter her PIN number. The 26-year-old realised the money, intended to pay the rent on the house she shares with her partner and 18-month-old daughter in Neptune Road, was gone on Saturday, February 10, the day after her birthday. While making subsequent withdrawals at the Halifax branch in the Forest Shopping Centre, she said she had heard of three similar bank- account thefts which all took place in the same week after the victims had used the same machine. Ms Casey said she had spoken out because she wanted people to be aware the theft had happened and to be more aware of people behind them when entering their PIN number. She remembers a man getting out of a car, parked in the shop's delivery bay, when she approached the machine. He began to use the other cash point, but stopped suddenly and queued behind her. She said: "I usually check cash machines first by running my hand over them and cover the keypad when I put my PIN number in, but I didn't this time - I don't know why." Halifax was unable to stop the transaction, but will refund the money within 10 days. In the meantime, it has given the victim a temporary overdraft facility to pay the rent to landlord Drum Housing Assoc-iation and promised to cancel any charges for an unpaid direct debit. Ms Casey said: "I knew this sort of thing happened to other people, but I never thought it would happen to me because I'm usually so careful."
