Islanders are being warned to be vigilant when using cash machines after fears card details were cloned.

Jackie Constable drew out money with her Nationwide debit card at the petrol station ATM in Tesco, Sheerness, last Wednesday afternoon but when she tried to use it to make a purchase online that evening it was blocked.

The Queenborough and Halfway councillor contacted her bank which told her there had been signs of fraudulent activity on the account so they had stopped it.

After posting about it online, Mrs Constable heard from several people that similar had happened to them at Tesco and elsewhere and some had lost money as a result.

“Nothing has been taken out because Nationwide was sensible and blocked it,” she said.

“It could have been so much worse – I’m one of the lucky ones as it seems to be quite a common event.

“It hasn’t been confirmed it was cloned but I last used it at Tesco and it was fine then.”

A Tesco spokesman said: “We have security measures in place across our ATMs to protect our customers from fraudulent activity.

“We have always said customers should remain vigilant when using an ATM, taking care to protect their pin and should immediately report anything they consider to be suspicious.

“These cash machines are working as normal and will continue to be routinely inspected.

“We’d advise any customer who is concerned about a transaction on their account to immediately contact their bank.”