Urgent warning issued by the UK's biggest banks, and ignoring it could be costly

Some of the UK’s biggest high street banks have issued an urgent warning to anyone who uses a cash machine to withdraw their money. The scam targets ATMs capable of withdrawing and depositing funds, which are often found outside of high street bank branches.

Scam artists place a printout next to the hole-in-the-wall, warning customers that the deposit feature is out of order. Next up, they fit plastic in front of the drawer used for withdrawals – to block the notes from protruding. When the customer puts their card into the machine, enters their PIN, and then selects the amount of money to withdraw ..they’ll hear the whirring inside the ATM, but nothing will appear.

With the plastic shield blocking the withdrawals, customers will look to the other drawer – the one used for deposits (despite what the homemade sign beside the cash machine claims). With nothing appearing, customers will (wrongly) assume that the cash machine is out of money, out of service, or that something has gone awry with their account.