Petrol scam net closing

Customers of the BP garage in Ninfield Road, Sidley, told how money had been suddenly withdrawn from their credit card or bank account - amounts varying from the low hundreds to as much as 2,800.

Police have also focussed their enquires around a petrol station located at the Crossways, in Eastbourne.

Both garages are fully co-operating and assisting police with the investigation.

So far two men have been arrested and are currently on police bail until January 2007.

One of the men, aged in his 30s is Sri Lankan; he is being held in custody as a result of his immigration status. The second man, said to be in his early 40s, is from Eastbourne. They are both assisting police with their enquiries. A further four men have been arrested in Spain and are believed to be linked to the crime, having been arrested after withdrawing cash from ATMs in Spain in September. At present it is not know how the customers band card details were obtained.

There are several ways to obtaining bank card details which are know as "skimming".

In this case, the data has been used to make a cloned bank card in order to withdraw money from ATM machines around the world.

To date there have been cash withdrawals in 20 countries, averaging approximately 300 each time.

DS Dick Bollard from the Sussex Police Cheque and Payment Card Unit said: "We are looking into a very large and complex investigation which is expected to take a considerable amount of time to progress.

"I would like to emphasize that the petrol stations are as much the victims as the banks and account holders in this type of fraud and staff have been extremely helpful with our enquiries. The investigation is ongoing and I am looking into a number of leads in not only the UK, but also abroad. I urge people to check their bank statements and take care when entering your PIN in any shop, or when using a cash point."

DS Dick Bollard added: "The inconvenience is initially with the account holder as this is the first anyone becomes aware of a problem when their account is empty or a transaction appears on their statement.

"At that point the banks become aware of the problem and inform the police, equally at this time the banks agree to re-pay the losses to the account holder as its understood in law that the theft is from the banks and not the customer."

Investigating officers have been examining CCTV footage of suspects withdrawing cast at various locations in London on what is believed to be some of the cloned cards.

Officers from the East Sussex division have collected what could be vital CCTV evidence from the various London locations.

Withdrawals were also made from Nationwide, in Terminus Road in Eastbourne, on Thursday, September 21, at 12.45am.

Local residents are being asked to try and help identify those captured on CCTV - one is thought to be between 25-35 years old, and the other between 20-30.

Anyone who recognises the men or has any information is asked to contact police on 0845 60 70 999 quoting Operation Turner, or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.