The village of the cloned

By Peter Wilson
BBC Midlands Today Home Affairs Correspondent

People in a West Midlands village say they have come under attack from organised criminals who have somehow cloned many of their credit and debit cards.

The problems began last July - now hundreds, possibly thousands, of people in Balsall Common have had their credit cards cloned and used in Canada, Australia, India and Russia.

Hundreds of people in Balsall Common have had their credit cards cloned

Godfrey Chesshire, the chairman of the parish council, said the situation was now an "epidemic". Not only has his card been cloned but also that of his son.

He claimed a courier for his bank who brought his new credit card told him about 100 new cards a day were being delivered to people in the village.

He has reverted to using cash rather than paying with plastic.

I went to the local library and the primary school. More than half the people I met had found all their cards had been cloned.

Katie Ballinger, who works in the library, had £250 taken from her account by somebody in Australia.

'No trust'

Vince Hunt, the local butcher, said people were convinced that the local petrol station was somehow linked to the problem.

He said villagers had formed a Facebook group - all of whom have had their cards cloned. So far 270 people were registered as members.

The Shell garage in Balsall Common has a big sign on the shop door saying it is under new management.

There is no suggestion that the card cloning has anything to do with the current staff, who took over on 1 September, or their predecessors.

Many people now prefer to use cash rather than pay by card

A Shell UK spokeswoman said: "For us every instance of card fraud is one too many. Shell has been supportive of the police and the card service provider in their ongoing investigations into this serious form of organised crime and identity theft."

People in the village are angry, and although in most cases the money has been refunded by the banks, it has shaken people's faith in plastic.

Clem Cope, another resident, had his cloned card used twice in Australia.

He now thinks twice before using his new card and said he did not know who to trust in the village.

This type of credit card fraud is on the increase.

Card fraud abroad has leapt by 77% in the past year costing more than £200m.

Police believe thieves are hiding devices inside check-out card readers to unscramble codes. They then clone cards which cannot be used in the UK, but can in some other countries.

West Midlands Police have urged people to take extra care when using their credit and debit cards to avoid the risk of having them used fraudulently.

A spokesman said the force worked closely with the financial institutions to tackle card cloning but did not have a specific inquiry into the card cloning incident affecting Balsall Common.

The people of one village in middle England may take a long time before they feel safe using their plastic cards.