Pop star Lulu today warned people to be vigilant when using cash machines after crooks stole her bank card “in front of her eyes”.
The singer, 64, had her card out at a NatWest machine in Kensington High Street when a man told her it was out of order and that she would have to use a machine inside.
He suddenly snatched the card and ran off, while the singer pursued him, shouting: “My card. That man’s got my card.” The man, wearing a baseball cap, jumped into a waiting green Ford which sped off the wrong way down a one-way street.
In a series of tweets, Lulu wrote: “Wasn’t mugged but did have my card stolen from ATM in front of my eyes by some very clever crooks... They put a false front onto the machine.
“Then two of them talked at me to distract me whilst my card didn’t go fully in, they saw my pin no and took the card.
“Don’t use ATM outside when alone. Go inside the bank.... Lets make it hard for the B.......’s.” The singer, whose full name is Lulu Kennedy-Cairns, had been shopping at the Whole Foods supermarket before using the machine.
She called the police, who arrived within minutes, and a Met police spokesman said the case was being investigated.
Figures showed that basic frauds such as distraction thefts were behind a rise in the number of cases of card fraud in Britain, which cost £185 million between January and June 2012.
