Samport

In the Swedish newspapers this week, the increasing problem of card fraud was discussed:

During the first six months in 2008, payment card fraud increased by 33 % in Sweden, reports Dagens Nyheter. Every 30 minutes a fraud is reported to the police. It is primarily card not present fraud that is on the increase, surmises Thomas Bäcke at the counter fraud section in Stockholm.

The introduction of Chip-and-Pin cards has made counterfeit fraud more difficult. Fraudsters are now turning to card not present fraud also known as "carding", which is unaffected by the Chip introduction. "There are fully developed businesses for card not present fraud" says Bäcke. "The perpetrators are persistent, hungry and defiant. The fraud losses are not large enough for the banks to impel them to introduce tougher anti-fraud systems, concludes the Thomas Bäcke.

Stefan Holm at Visa Sweden emphasises that the card holder will not be liable for fraud and downplays the impact. "Fraud in Sweden comprises only 0.025% of all transactions compared to the Euro level of 0.055.

Read more here>>

Fredrik Rehnvall, Fraud & Risk Manager at Samport is commenting the news:
"The increase in reported card not present fraud is the tip of an iceberg. Behind each of them, there are dozens of fraudulent attempts, and many of the successful ones aren't being reported. While the banks and card scheme organisations continue to claim the situation is under control, this is not true for the e-commerce merchants. Many believe they are protected by the 3D Secure system or that the acquiring banks have anti fraud measures in place. They don't have this or at best only for the large merchants. And 3D Secure protection is voided if the merchant cannot keep the fraud losses below 0.5% of the turnover. Behind the low overall fraud statistics, there are an increasing number of web shops that have been severely hit by fraud, often killing their business."

Source: DN, September 2nd, 2008.