Bermuda's banks are warning customers to beware of credit card fraud after a Bank of Butterfield customer had $2,000 plundered from her account by someone in Turkey.

The woman said the money went out in stages followed by one large chunk between last Friday and yesterday and she urged others to check their accounts.

She said yesterday: "I noticed something funny last Friday because the balance seemed low, however the actual transaction details did not hit my account until today."

She said she had never lost her card but believes someone had stolen her Bank of Butterfield debit card number.

"However the bank said it has been happening to people who have accounts with the other bank too.

"I don't use my debit card on Internet transactions, only on island.

"It's very strange it happened to me. The bank is trying to investigate and took all my information," said the woman who has never been to Turkey.

She said the dodgy transactions had shown up on her statement but it was impossible to say who had taken the money because it was in Turkish.

Bank spokeswoman Karen Cabral said she could not comment on the particular case.

But she added: "I can say the bank monitors customers accounts for any unusual activity on a regular basis.

"When they see suspicious activity we contact the customer right away.

"This happens on a regular basis ? it isn't something new."

The bank advises customers to keep credit and debit card and ATM receipts or destroy them rather than leave them in a public bin.

Shopping on the Internet should be done with a secure browser which scrambles purchase information.

A web page is secure if there is a locked padlock or unbroken key in the lower right hand corner of the browser and the URL of the site has changed from "http" to "https".

Last month more than 200 Bank of Bermuda customers had to have their Visa and EasyLink cards re-issued after a security blip in Canada threatened to compromise their accounts.

The bank was told by Visa that some of its customers may have fallen victim to a potential fraud after criminals may have hacked into the computer system of a business overseas, accessing account details.

A Bank of Bermuda spokeswoman said last night that the blip had not been the bank's fault.

She added: "I think credit card fraud has been going on for quite some time.

"It's just recently it seems more frequent but I don't think it is happening anymore. I think it's because the detection systems are a lot more hi-tech."

As a general precaution, the bank advises clients to review their statements vigilantly for fraudulent transactions and to contact the bank immediately if they detect anything suspicious.

Clients who can access EasyLink Online are reminded that they can review up-to-date statements of their accounts at any time.

The spokesperson said customers can help by ensuring contact information they provide the bank is accurate and customers are encouraged to review their monthly card statements.

"If customers use EasyLink online they can check their credit card and Easylink statements any time and can determine any suspicious activity. To safeguard their cards customers should know where their card is at all times

"With the advancement of technology in the industry, fraud will continue to be a challenge, and as the industry is getting better at detecting fraud incidents, they may seem to occur on a more frequent basis.

"The bank utilises the premier fraud management detection system in the industry. The system identifies high-risk situations based on pre-determined perimeters."