Shield your PIN at cash machines

Video footage by LINK, the UK's cash machine network, reveals how criminals can try to get hold of your four-digit PIN when you use an ATM that they have targeted.

However, as the seized criminal footage shows, by simply shielding the keypad with your free hand, keys, wallet or purse, you can easily stop a criminal from finding out your PIN.

Although the latest figures show that cash machine fraud is on the decrease, there have recently been incidents of cash machine crime as far afield as Aberdeen, Bangor, Barnstable and Keswick.

Criminals attach a skimming device to the card entry slot - to copy the information on the card's magnetic stripe - whilst a miniature pinhole camera, which overlooks the ATM's keypad, films the customer's PIN as they enter it.

LINK has produced a cash machine fraud prevention guide that explains the scams that criminals use to get their hands on our cards and card details, as well as providing advice on how to stay safe from fraud when using an ATM. It is available to download at link.co.uk.

Edwin Schooling Latter, Managing Director, LINK Scheme said: "Incidences of cash machine crime may be few and far between but it is very difficult for a member of the public to tell if an ATM has been targeted or not. The best thing to do is always to be on the safe side and shield the keypad whenever you enter your PIN."