Yet another victim of the cashpoint fraudsters in High Street, Barkingside, has criticised the response of police.

David Pledger was passing Barclay’s Bank in the road at 8.30pm on March 2 when he saw five men approach the two cash dispensers and remove devices from each of them.

When he went to Barkingside Police Station, also in the High Street, Mr Pledger says that officers told him the bank had been targeted “every day for two weeks” but they did not have enough officers on duty to deal with the complaint.

He then met a couple who claimed to have had �300 taken from a nearby cashpoint the same day.

A spokesman for Redbridge Police said: “It is a despicable crime. Redbridge Police take very seriously allegations of crime of this nature because of the negative impact it has on the victim.

“Safer neighbourhood team officers, as part of their daily patrols, check at the ATMs for any evidence of devices attached to ATMs. All allegations are investigated by CID officers and there have recently been two arrests in connection with devices fitted to ATMs.”

A spokesman for Barclay’s said: “Unfortunately fraud is a problem for the whole banking industry and we have recently seen a slightly different type of attack on a number of our ATMs which has affected a small number of customers locally.”

In the last two weeks the Recorder has reported of two other men who have fallen victim to the scammers in the area on the same day.