'HUNDREDS' of Darwen residents may have fallen victim to a scam affecting the town's cash machines, police have warned.

An investigation has been launched after five ATMs in the town centre were found to have been tampered with over the weekend.

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The machines affected were at Santander and NatWest in Market Street, Barclays in School Street, Lloyds in Duckworth Street and McColl's in Church Street.

Detective Constable Tony Roberts, from Blackburn CID, stressed that although no victims had been identified so far, anyone who used the machines between Saturday and Wednesday should check their bank accounts.

He said: "We believe, from the engineers we are working with, that all five machines have been tampered with, either by being forced open or by having some sort of card reader attached.

"They disable the machines one way or another and usually leave one or two nearby machines in the area free and attach a skimming device to those.

"The theory we're working off, which is known as funnelling, is that when people use the seemingly legitimate machines, that's when the cash can be taken.

"We've got experienced people who have seen this before working to restore the machines."

Engineers worked throughout the day yesterday to get the cash machines back online, while customers were advised to withdraw money from their bank in person.

DC Roberts said: "Over the weekend at Santander alone we know that potentially hundreds of people used the machine and could be affected.

"Sometimes their cash will be dispensed and sometimes it won't. If anyone affected contacts their branches they will be able to tell them how to go about being reimbursed.

"So far as we are aware, there has been no loss to the people of Darwen. Obviously we are still concerned that people going round using the machines unwittingly have been targeted.

"Quite often you can tell when ATMs have been tampered with and we would urge people who see anything suspicious to contact the police."