Tesco till scheme is rapped.

A "SECURITY LOOPHOLE" at Tesco self-service tills has allowed thieves to fleece consumers of thousands of pounds, Which? warned today.

At around 200 stores the supermarket lets customers scan in shopping themselves and pay for the groceries with a debit or credit card.

The scheme is aimed at making it easier and quicker for shoppers to check out.

But the system does not require the customer to enter a four-digit pin code or sign for the goods.

This, according to Which?, has left consumers out of pocket, with thieves using stolen or cloned plastic to pay for shopping.

The campaigning charity said they had been contacted by several angry people who had been stung in this way, with some being taken for almost pounds 1,000.

The money was later returned by the victims' banks, but Which? warns that the supermarket must tighten up its security to avoid further incidents.

Which? editor Neil Fowler said: "As a shop that prides itself on caring about its customers, we can only hope they close this obvious loophole and introduce standard security procedures in the very near future."

A spokesman for Tesco, said: "We do not have a higher fraud rate at self-service check-outs."

This, according to the supermarket, is down to security, transaction limits and CCTV at the tills.

But the spokesman added: "We will be rolling out chip and pin by the end of the year.