Fraudulent withdrawals hitting local credit and debit cards from British stores including a luxury chain have been months in the running, several residents have said.

Harvey Nichols, a high-end chain with its main store based in Knightsbridge, London, has shown up repeatedly, an HSBC customer told The Royal Gazette on Friday.

Butterfield customers have also been stung, according to complaints posted on social media.

Asking not to be named for privacy reasons, the woman who contacted the Gazette said that a co-worker just had $3,000 debited to Harvey Nichols.

She said she had $900 withdrawn for the chain just that week while her husband’s card racked up a $400 fraudulent withdrawal to Harvey Nichols early last month.

She added that the bank had reported “a high increase in Harvey Nichols withdrawals” when she complained.

A Facebook post from a Butterfield customer on May 9 mentioned repeated hits to the luxury chain, but said other fake transactions to their account included Vodafone, Domino’s and Footlocker in Britain.

Another posted last week: “For those who don't know it's been an issue for about two to three months now with all the banks locally. It definitely has escalated in the last three weeks.

“I had one card changed almost every week. There needs to be a proper investigation to why this is happening but I won't hold my breath.“

A spokeswoman from HSBC on Friday did not confirm specific retailers appearing in the fake withdrawals.

But she said: “Whenever the bank is made aware that a customer's card has been compromised, immediate action is taken to support them.

“We strongly recommend that customers protect themselves from card fraud by registering for card alerts.”

She shared an online link to register for credit card alerts, adding: “To receive debit card alerts such as SMS notifications, call to register at 299-5959.”