But the investigation may be too little too late for one father-of-four from the town, who has lost more than £2,000 after TWO of his debit cards were cloned.

"I noticed the first transaction, which was for £999, just before Christmas," said 44-year-old Steve Smith. "I immediately contacted the bank who cancelled my debit card and said they would carry out an investigation.

"Christmas was fast approaching and because we were short by that amount we had to use our credit cards, which obviously costs more in interest."

Once the bank had investigated the fraud, they wrote to Steve and refunded the £999. By that time they had also issued him a new debit card – but within weeks another £1,000 had disappeared from the couple's joint account.

"I can't understand it at all," said Steve. "This time there were eight transactions ranging from £50 to £286, totalling £1,000. They were cash withdrawals at ATMs in Eastern European countries.

"On this occasion the bank contacted me as soon as the transactions went through. And although just this morning they've confirmed they are reimbursing the amounts, I am again without a card and have to withdraw cash in person at the bank, or use my credit card, which again costs in interest.

"When it first happened I didn't feel I could go anywhere or use any of my cards. I am pretty resentful because, even though we've been refunded, somewhere along the line we've had to pay for this."

Steve's experiences appear to be among scores of similar card fraud reports received by the Citizen and reflected in an ongoing police investigation.

A police spokesman said officers are investigating 16 reports of card details being compromised in the Newport Pagnell area, with a lot of the reports implicating the now-closed Shell garage. A smaller number of the reports mention the BP garage on Tickford Street.

A BP spokesman said: "Our fraud department have been working with the police and we do not believe people's card details were compromised at this garage."