The amount of money lost due to fraud on credit and debit cards fell last year by 7% to £341m, the lowest level for 10 years.
The latest payment fraud losses for 2011, released today by the banking and card payments industry show that credit card, debit card and online banking fraud levels have fallen again. This continued success is thanks to efforts by the industry, partners, and importantly, customers.
Card losses fell by 7% year on year to reach £341 million in 2011, the lowest figure in a decade following a three-year reduction of nearly 45%, Financial Fraud Action UK said.
The drop from 2010 was mainly due to a 41% fall in fraudsters impersonating people to obtain or use credit cards.There was also a 24% fall in the amount of fraud from cards being faked.
However, telephone banking fraud losses soared 32%, from £12.7 million in 2010, to £16.7 million in 2011. Initiatives such as MasterCard SecureCode, Verified by Visa and American Express SafeKey are, in part, credited with the success.
Card fraud rose during the past decade to reach its peak, in 2008, of £610m.
Although the adoption of chip-and-pin technology, largely replacing signatures, had helped to rein in fraud in the UK, there was a revival in the fraudulent use of cards abroad.
Increase in malware and phishing
The decrease occurred despite a continuing rise in phishing attacks and attacks involving malware – last year, phishing attacks were up an alarming 80%.
Melanie Johnson, Chair of The UK Cards Association comments: “Driving down fraud and keeping cards safe continues to be a priority for the industry. This is the third year card fraud losses have fallen - clear proof that our endeavours to fight fraud are packing a punch.
Customers have also played their part in driving down losses by taking heed of advice about looking after their personal and financial details. Fortunately, they can always be confident that if they are the innocent victim of fraud, they have excellent fraud protection that they don’t get if they use cash
For further information visit the Financial Fraud Action UK website.
Please note that Action Fraud is not responsible for the content of external websites.
To report a fraud, call Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or use our online fraud reporting tool.
See also:
Bank card and cheque fraud
Malware
Phishing
