Incidents reported at Sainsbury's and inside Marks & Spencer

Two incidents of theft at local ATMS- one of them inside Marks & Spencer- have prompted local police to warn people to be on the alert when withdrawing money from cash machines.

The first incident involved an elderly man drawing out £100 from the ATM outside Sainsbury's , Essex Place. He was distracted, and a man in his thirties suddenly grabbed the cash and ran.

Protect your PIN at an ATM by covering it with your hand

The man returned for another attempt in the afternoon but was recognised by store security and detained.

The second incident happened last week where a customer in Marks & Spencer was seen to draw cash out of the machine inside the store.

Police said that she was distracted while about to withdraw the cash by a white man who said; "You have dropped a £5 note". He then made off with her money.

Another incident of pickpocketing, or 'dipping' took place outside M & S today where a ladies purse was stolen.

A police spokesman said the public should be on the alert at all cash machines, whether inside or outside stores and should be vigilant about their PIN numbers and watch out for anyone trying to distract them. Police advice on how to ' Nip A Dipper' is contained in this poster.

Police safety advice at ATMS :

*always be aware of people behind you, and cover the keypad with your hand
*don’t get distracted - thieves often use a variety of distraction techniques to try and divert your attention away from the cash machine so that an accomplice can take your card
*protect your PIN; cover the keypad with your hand when entering your PIN, and don’t let anyone persuade you to re-enter it
*check the cashpoint machine before you use it; look out for anything out of place, and any signs of tampering, especially above the keypad and around the card slot where glue or sticky residue may be present
*do not attempt to remove any device - if you suspect a cash machine has been tampered with, call the police on 101 or contact the bank immediately
*where possible, use a cash machine inside the bank
*check your statements regularly
*notify your bank immediately if you suspect fraud
*securely dispose of statements or slips which contain your card details

November 24, 2015