Credit card fraud up 14 per cent to £301.7 million
Credit card fraud reached a record high in the first half of this year, with losses up 14 per cent to £301.7 million. Apacs attributed this rise to an increase in card fraud committed abroad in countries where chip and pin is yet to be introduced. Fraud losses abroad have risen by 190 per cent in the last three years to £121.2 million. Fraud committed in face-to-face transactions in shops rose by more than a quarter to £47.4 million, while cash machine fraud rose by 22 per cent, after declining year-on-year since 2004.
Apacs said the increase in online, phone and mail order shopping fraud, know as "card-not-present" fraud, should be seen in the context of the proliferation of online retailers, and the even greater increase in the number of people now shopping online. For instance, between 2001 and 2007, this type of fraud rose by 204 per cent, compared with a 415 per cent increase in online shopping card transactions.
Fraud on lost or stolen cards was the only type of fraud to fall this year, coming down from £30.7 to £27.3 million from the same period last year.
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Source: www.timesonline.co.uk, October 1st, 2008.