Thames Valley Police has called in a specialist crime unit to help crack an outbreak of credit card frauds in the Wycombe area.

Detectives from the Dedicated Cheque and Plastic Crime Unit are looking for a pattern to lead them to the brains behind the outfits robbing cardholders of cash.

One of the victims is 61 year old book-keeper Mike Tomich who lives at the top of Marlow Hill, High Wycombe.

He told the Bucks Free Press yesterday he has never used plastic to get cash out of a machine since two of his cards were stolen along with his wallet two years ago.

“I only ever use my American Express card to pay for petrol at a garage, never for anything else,” he said. “The last time I used it was at 2.43pm on September 3.

“Yesterday I was called by the Am-Ex fraud department who said my card had been flagged up because there had been two attempts to get cash out of my card in London.

“They know I never use it to get cash from a hole in the wall. I rang them back and they told me £20 and £40 had been withdrawn.”

Another victim was Bhupesh Patel. He told the Free Press on Monday: “I have just been advised by20MasterCard that my card has been subject to a number of attempted cash withdrawals of high value from ATMs in Malaysia.

“They obviously did not have my PIN number as otherwise they would have managed to extract big sums of money from the ATM given they tried it a number of times according to the card company.”

He added: “My understanding is that many of these frauds start by them obtaining a copy of the card called 'skimming.' A hidden device is used to achieve this and a copy is made of one's card very quickly at the time of payment and when the cardholder is not looking.

“For some time now I have only been using my credit card in a very few shops and petrol stations in Wycombe. The odd time in the last 12 months I may have used it elsewhere wouldn't be the potential problem.”

We also received a call this week from a High Wycombe resident whose fiancee had her Nationwide debit card cloned by a fraudster. They asked us not to reveal their names because they were getting married on Wednesday and are away on holiday.

Before leaving for the nuptials, the bridegroom-to-be told us his fiance's card had been blocked by the bank following a withdrawal of £87 in Malaysia. “While my fiancee was explaining what had happened to a staff member at the local branch of the Nationwide, someone in the queue behind her called out that exactly the same thing had happened to them.”

Readers who contacted the Free Press believed credit card fraud is now widespread although a spokesman for the Nationwide insisted there had been a “significant reduction” in cases due to improved card technology and more sophisticated detection.

Mr Tomich told us work colleagues of his said they have also been targeted.

“When my cards were stolen two years ago, the thief used my Barclaycard debit card in Aylesbury and took £300 out of my account within threequarters of an hour. I had a lot of trouble getting the money back because it was a debit card and debit cards don't have the same security safeguards as credit cards.

“There were three failed attempts within three months to use my Am-Ex credit card the last time but Am-Ex were onto them straightaway.”

The book-keeper says he wants to see cheques and cheque guarantee cards make a come-back and less use of plastic.“My good lady said she went to Tesco's and they wouldn't accept a cheque. I don't what the world is coming to.”

Michelle Whiteman, press officer for the Dedicated Cheque and Plastic Crime Units says the squad was set up in 2002 as a pilot scheme funded by the government and manned by CID from the City of London and the Metropolitan Police.

“After the pilot scheme ended, the unit was continued and funding now comes from the banking industry. The main aim is to find common denominators which will lead to conviction of the people behind the frauds.”

She said the best way for cardholders to protect themselves is always to shield the keypad with their other hand when they are keying in their pin number and never to let the card out of their sight.

She advised: “An additional level of protection for those who pay with credit cards for on-line purchases is to apply for a further password from Verified by Visa or the MasterCard Secure Code. Google either of these schemes for details.”