The banking industry has warned people to be vigilant when using cash machines.
The warning follows a surge in ATM fraud in Britain where thieves are using cameras and electronic equipment to replicate bank cards.
The British banking industry has released figures which show that the scam, known as "skimming", has cost the industry and consumers £61 million (87.2 million) in the 12 months to June, nearly double the previous year.
The operation involves the fraudster placing a "skimming" device over the card slot of a cash machine.
This wireless electronic device scans the details of the card and relays it to the laptop of the fraudster nearby and is then used to create a clone of the ATM customer's bank card.
Meanwhile, the PIN number of the victim is either obtained by an accomplice who simply looks over the user's shoulder or by a tiny camera concealed on the bank machine.
Yesterday, Irish ATM operators said that while the problem was much less prevalent here, it issued a set of tips to cash machine users to prevent against being "skimmed" or defrauded.
Ms Jenny Chamberlaine of the Irish Payment Services Organisation, the banking industry's payments body, said the amount of "skimming" fraud in Ireland was much less than in Britain and that bank machines continued to be safe to use. More than 200 million transactions took place each year, she said.
"It's only a small number of isolated incidents here. Ireland isn't experiencing the same amount of card fraud. In the UK it's up to one million pounds a week. Here, we're talking about tens of thousands over a year."
Ms Chamberlaine said that "skimming" was being used to raise cash to fund other criminal and terrorist activity.
The devices were very small and come in "all shapes and sizes, and can be difficult to spot, for even a well-trained eye."
In Britain, banks have reacted by reducing the amount of cash customers can withdraw from an ATM in a 24-hour period.
In Ireland, the main security problem for ATMs has been the so-called "hole in the wall" gangs who have used diggers and other vehicles to rip machines from walls.
It has led to extra security measures, along with the proposals that more isolated bank machines should be empty of cash at night and during weekends.