A RESIDENT fears fraudsters could have been watching him before they cloned his card and withdrew £120 from his bank account.

The man from Wivenhoe, who does not wish to be named, visited the High Street Co-op in Wivenhoe on Sunday, at about 7pm.

After entering his pin and choosing the amount of cash, he realised his card was not being returned.

He said: “I had put my pin in and wanted to get £120 out, the machine sounded like it was counting the money but it wasn’t ejecting my card.

“I tried to get the card out and there was a little metal tab which was stopping the card from coming out.

“I called my bank straight away and asked them what details they needed to cancel the card. I didn’t have them on me so drove home to get them.”

But during that short journey time, the fraudsters had skimmed his card and withdrawn £120 from Tesco at the Hythe, just two miles away.

The man added: “They must have been close by.

“The ATM was having a refit and there was scaffolding around.

“I reckon they were hiding up there and watched me put my pin number in.

“They must have jumped down and taken my card once I had left.”

He made the police aware and his bank refunded the money straight away.

It comes after a warning was issued to residents following a number of similar incidents at the East of England Co-op’s store in Nayland Road, Mile End, Colchester.

Other incidents have occurred at Colchester branches in Old Heath Road, Iceni Way in Shrub End and in Wivenhoe.

A spokesman for the East of England Co-op said: “We are aware of a few reports of issues with ATMs at some of our Colchester stores.

“We have raised these issues with Cashzone, the company which operates the machines.

“We don’t have access to the machines and all repairs and maintenance is handled by Cashzone.

“Cashzone will be visiting these machines as soon as possible to repair them and investigating the cause of the problem.”