How mobile phone cameras are fuelling a new rise in ATM fraud
With its pin-hole camera, circuit board and miniature battery - this tiny gadget looks like a secret agent's spying device.
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But in fact it is so common the majority of us carry the same thing around with us all day, every day.
MailOnline can reveal today criminal gangs are adapting mobile phone video cameras and hiding them in cash points to help empty bank accounts.
This device has been secretly helping to fuel a rise in the £100million-a-year card fraud industry in Britain.
After being stripped from its phone housing, the camera is hidden under a false panel above an ATM keypad.
It then secretly records unsuspecting customers as they tap in their PIN while all the time being watched by thieves just metres away.
The video recording is then used in conjunction with a separate device placed over the card slot that can either trap or clone your card, giving fraudsters all the information they need to plunder your accounts.
While police advise potential victims to look out for anything suspicious, they warn against taking devices away because there's a good chance these gangs could come after you to get them back.
Very often, they will be loaded with data which could potentially be worth thousands of pounds, but also, crucially, evidence that could incriminate them.
'They will be watching you,' says Tony Blake, crime prevention officer at the Dedicated Cheque and Plastic Crime Unit DCPCU), a police unit sponsored by the banking industry.
'If you go off with their camera, they might come after you to get their equipment back.
'It's best not to try looking for devices fitted by fraudsters as the vast majority are very small and well concealed.'
The industrial scale of these cons was highlighted last month when two fraudsters were jailed for a total of six years over a scam which netted more than £2million worth of stolen card details from potentially thousands of victims.
Florin Ardel, 25, and Ioan Flore, 33, were arrested after officers found an 'Aladdin's cave' of card cloning equipment including camera panels and false fronts at an address in London, plus stolen numbers for nearly 5,000 bank cards.
And it's a growing business.
Fraud on lost or stolen cards increased by three per cent to £29.2 million during the first half of last year, up from £28.2million in the same period of 2013.
Similarly, counterfeit fraud - cards that are cloned - increased by four per cent to £24.2million, up from £23.3 million.
Figures for the remaining six months of last year have not yet been published, but the total figure for 2013 came to £102.3million.
Mr Blake said: 'The best way to beat the fraudsters is always to protect your PIN when using a cash machine by shielding your hand.
'If you spot anything unusual about the cash machine or there are signs of tampering, do not use it.'
If you do notice anything suspicious or if the ATM does swallow your card, the advice is to call your bank straightaway.
He told MailOnline: 'Make sure you store your bank's 24-hour phone number in your mobile phone, and if your card is retained by the cash machine, or your money is not dispensed, immediately report the incident to your bank while you are still nearby.'
A similar, but more sophisticated con, which is also used in conjunction with a mobile phone camera is known as card skimming.
Here, an electronic device is fitted around the card slot to capture data contained on the magnetic strip as it enters the ATM which is then downloaded to a memory card contained within the device.
Counterfeits are then made up using any card with a magnetic strip such store cards or phone top-ups.
Armed with those two, and with the customer having received their card back and not believing anything is untoward, the criminals have carte blanche to wreak havoc with your account.
