Card scanners found on city centre parking machines

City centre car park users have been warned by a local authority to "be on the lookout" following reports of fraudulent activity involving parking machines.

Oxford City Council said three people had reported that sums of money were taken, or attempts were made to take funds, from their bank accounts shortly after using the pay machines at Worcester Street car park.

The authority said its internal checks had identified devices disguised as legitimate card readers placed over the actual readers on the pay machines.

It added the issue was "immediately" reported to Thames Valley Police. The BBC has contacted the force to confirm if it was investigating the incidents.

The authority said the three customers who reported the issue had all used their cards to pay for parking - later receiving alerts or noticing suspicious activity on their accounts.

Skimming devices, which can capture card data without the user's knowledge, were later discovered on some parking machines.

Councillor Alex Hollingsworth, the authority's planning and culture chief, said it "understands the concern" the incidents may cause and they were "taking this issue extremely seriously".

"I would ask for car park users to remain vigilant and promptly report any similar incidents or suspicious activity to the police," he added.

The council said it would increase inspections on all pay machines in the city, and had posted awareness materials to inform the public.

It said a common sign of the scam was a "card declined" message on the machine, prompting users to move to another machine - by which time, the card details may have already been taken.

Customers using machines should "be on the lookout" and "always inspect the card reader" before using it, it said, adding that "if anything looks unusual, do not use the machine".

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