Money News
Just published data from APACS, the UK payments association, shows that card fraud losses rose by 25% in 2007 to £535.2 million - a key driver behind this being the 77% increase (up £90.5 million) in fraud committed overseas by criminals using stolen UK card details. These losses have typically occurred in countries yet to upgrade to chip and PIN, according to APACS. Fraud abroad now accounts for 39% of total card fraud losses.
Chip and PIN continues to have a positive effect on card fraud committed in the UK. Indeed, over the past three years losses on face-to-face transactions on the UK high street have fallen by two-thirds from £218.8 million in 2004, to £73.0 million last year. And thanks to chip and PIN, says APACS, the 2007 figures also show that fraud on lost and stolen cards (£56.2 million), and mail non-receipt fraud (£10.2 million), are at their lowest levels for 10 years.
Meanwhile, counterfeit fraud losses rose by 46%, although the vast majority of this fraud was due to criminals stealing card details in the UK to make counterfeit magnetic stripe cards for use in countries yet to upgrade to chip and PIN.
Elsewhere, card-not-present fraud losses have risen by 37% and account for more than half of all card fraud losses. However, these losses have to be seen in the context of huge increases in the amount of people shopping online and over the phone, and the numbers of shops offering telephone or online shopping. In fact while card-not-present fraud losses rose by 122% between 2001 and 2006; over the same time period, the total value of online shopping transactions alone increased by 358% (up from £6.6 billion in 2001 to £30.2 billion in 2006).
APACS says tackling card-not-present fraud is a priority and the industry continues to encourage cardholder and retailer take-up of MasterCard SecureCode and Verified by Visa - secure online payment systems that help prevent online shopping fraud: www.shopsafeonline.org.uk details information about these systems.
Online banking fraud losses totalled £22.6 million in 2007 - a 33% decrease from 2006 losses. This year-on-year decrease is all the more impressive given that phishing incidents almost doubled from 14,156 in 2006 to 25,796 last year. Help and advice about preventing all types of online banking fraud again is available at www.banksafeonline.org.uk.
Finally, and following significant year-on-year reductions in 2005 and 2006, cheque fraud losses in 2007 rose 10% to £33.5 million. However, these losses still remain relatively low compared with other fraud types.
14 March 2008 © Moneyextra.com
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