A council has issued a warning after a man became a victim of a scam at a pay and display.
It happened when the scammer asked the man to pay for a ticket as he claimed he didn’t understand how to do it himself.
The man was then unable to get his card back out of the machine as it had been swallowed.
He claimed to call the engineer to come and release the card but this was part of the elaborate scam.
It wasn’t until later the man realised he had lost £1,500 from his accounts across three separate transactions.
Now Brighton and Hove City Council has issued a warning following the scam.
The man told The Argus: “I inserted my card but then he was typing his car registration and I am not sure what he did very quickly.
“But the machine did not return my card. I was naive enough to use my second card and the same thing happened to that as well.
“Then, he looked at the side of the machine and said that he will call for an engineer to come out to release the cards.”
Brighton and Hove City Council has issued an urgent “scam alert” on Twitter warning drivers of the danger.
The council urged road users to report any similar incidents for further investigation.
In a tweet, the council said: “We’ve been made aware of a scam performed at one of our pay & display machines.
“A bank card was stolen after thieves asked the owner to help them pay for a ticket.
“Please be aware and if this has happened to you, report it to Sussex Police.”
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Similar scams also exist with some fraudsters urging drivers to insert a second card to help remove the other one.
This allows scammers to steal personal details on two cards to double their take.
It is known as the Lebanese Loop and uses a device that captures card information while the suspect watches you enter your pin.
Action Fraud said the scam isn’t that common but has told road users to contact their card provider if they become a victim.
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