The thieves racked up thousands of dollars in meals at chain restaurants in the neighbouring states of Kansas and Missouri, including Hooters, The Olive Garden Italian Restaurant, Buffalo Wild Wings Restaurant, Romano's Macaroni Grill and Outback Steakhouse

In just two days they made 19 transactions at nine different restaurants in either Kansas or Missouri except for two transactions made at an animal supplies store in Missouri.

The thieves maxed-out the card to its $5000 limit in two days, most of it apparently spent on meals.

They spent suspiciously similar – and in some cases identical – amounts at each venue including spending $330.24 eight times.

Sometimes the thieves used the card details on the same day at different restaurants which were more than 200km apart and in different states.

The card was owned by Greenway retiree Beverley Flint, also a vice-president of the Tuggeranong Community Council.

Despite the fact she was not in the United States at the time of the transactions and the suspicious nature of them, Mrs Flint said she was not contacted by her bank, the Commonwealth Bank, and did not realise the thefts until she received her usual Mastercard statement.

She rang the bank at 6pm that night to cancel her card and ask why she had not been alerted.

"I advised the bank that I had a very low usage of my credit card at any one time and this should have alerted them to this scam event," she said.

The thefts occurred in June last year and Mrs Flint came forward to The Canberra Times to tell her story after reading about the recent plight of another Canberran, Graeme Barrow, who had $11,000 stolen on his card by thieves in America who had also apparently accessed his skimmed credit card details.

Mrs Flint said it took two months of discussion with the Commonwealth Bank to convince them all the transactions were thefts.

She said the final sticking point was $330.24 spent at Buffalo Wild Wings, which was the last amount reimbursed.

Mrs Flint said two young male staff members at the Tuggeranong Hyperdome branch of the Commonwealth Bank were very helpful and tried several times to argue her case with head office.

"They would tell them,'She did not buy those buffalo wings!'," Mrs Flint said.

All the outstanding amounts were finally reimbursed by the bank in late August last year.

"The stress of sorting out this problem with the bank, their lack of security checking and their reluctance to quickly settle the problem for me, as a senior, was the most stressful," Mrs Flint said.

The Australian Bankers Association says skimming is the "unauthorised copying of information stored on the magnetic strip of debit and credit cards. This information can be used by criminals to create a counterfeit card, which is then used for fraudulent transactions in retail outlets, on the Internet or at ATMs". The information is usually stolen by devices fitted to ATMs and EFTPOS devices.

In 2014, counterfeit/skimming fraud increased by 17 per cent from 2013 to $42.1 million, according to a report released in June this year by the Australian Payments Clearing Association, the payments industry self-regulatory body

The report found the increase over the year had been largely due to attacks on ATMs by criminal gangs but the longer trend was for a reduction in the thefts.

"In the six years from 2009, counterfeit/skimming fraud has dropped 25 per cent, largely due to the widespread rollout of chip technology on cards and at merchants and the phasing out of signatures," the report read.

"In 2014, however, it increased by 17 per cent on the previous year, largely due to criminal gangs targeting ATMs. The industry is actively moving Australian ATMs from magnetic stripe to chip which is expected to significantly reduce fraud from these types of attacks."

APCA chief executive officer Chris Hamilton said on Friday skimming was now less of a concern than online fraud.

"Skimming is actually now pretty hard to do because of chip cards," he said. "As soon as a terminal is changed to a chip terminal, it knows if you're using a counterfeit card."

Online fraud was harder to prevent because thieves could use the card number and expiry date online without the need for the card to be physically checked.

"Card-not-present fraud, which is what this is, actually accounts for three-quarters of all card fraud," he said.

Another Canberra woman, Alison Lewis, also contacted The Canberra Times, saying her card details were apparently skimmed and thieves took three amounts of $139 in the past month. The transactions were made in Ireland and America.

Mrs Lewis said she was immediately contacted by her bank, the National Australia Bank, to alert her of the suspicious transactions even before she noticed them.

"They sent me a text saying they had noticed something unusual on my account and could I give them a call. Honestly, I was really amazed by how quickly they reacted," she said.

" I cannot praise the NAB highly enough. They were on it instantly, kept me informed all the way, refunded the money and sent me a new card all in a very short space of time.

Mrs Lewis said the bank told her the thieves were probably "gearing up for a bigger go" after taking the smaller amounts.

She had visited London, Prague and Abu Dhabi earlier this year but the bank couldn't confirm where her credit card details had been stolen.

"They said it could have happened in Canberra at the shops or it could have happened on my travels," Mrs Lewis said.

"That's the really scary bit. You don't know where it is going to happen."

The Australian Bankers' Association has assured customers they were not liable for unauthorised transactions on their accounts if they were victims of skimming crimes

"If a bank suspects fraudulent activity, customers' cards may be blocked to ensure fraudulent transactions cannot continue. In addition, a bank staff member may contact the customer to discuss any unusual activity, such as the card being used overseas when it is usually used domestically," it said.

"We urge people who notice unauthorised transactions on their account to report this to their bank as soon as possible. If you have any concerns, you can check your account online, over the phone or by visiting a branch."

The Commonwealth Bank does not comment on individual customer accounts. However, a Commonwealth Bank spokeswoman said it had a team which monitored accounts around-the-clock to pick up unusual activity.

A voice-activated telephone alert system could contact customers "within seconds" on any potential fraudulent activity on an account. Customers could also block their card temporarily, block ATM cash advances and set limits on transactions immediately via the CommBank app or NetBank, if they noticed any suspicious transactions.

"CommBank provides a guarantee that you will not be liable for unauthorised transactions (including contact-less payments) on your credit card provided you comply with the Credit Card Conditions of Use," a statement from the bank read.