A cashpoint scam where a midlands journalist lost £4,000 from her bank account resulted in a full-page warning story in the Leicester Mercury.

Helen Walmsley didn’t lose her card or tell anyone her PIN number, but the cash disappeared from her account – with £500 disappearing before her eyes as she sat discussing the problem with her bank.

The Leicester Mail reporter had fallen victim to “skimming”, where someone managed to make a copy of her card, observe her using her PIN and take money from the account.

The money was pilfered in an eight-day period last month.

The bank wrote to her to ask if she was aware the money had been withdrawn. She visited the bank the next day and thought her account had been frozen but the money continued to disappear from the Alliance & Leicester account in the next few days.

Helen told reporter Lee Marlow: “I’ve been to see them twice at the bank and their attitude was to just shrug their shoulders, as if it was nothing to do with them.

“I don’t think it was my fault someone stole £4,000 from my bank account.

“I put the money in there believing it was safe. It wasn’t. I didn’t lose my card and I didn’t pass my details on to anyone else. I think it’s the bank’s responsibility.”

Skimming is one of the fastest-growing frauds in the country, and especially in Leicester, where credit card fraud has soared by 44 per cent in a year.

It is expected to have cost city residents some £350,000 in the last year.

The bank has now apologised for the mix-up and has put most of the money back into her account. Staff expect to refund the rest and are considering compensation.

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