UK card fraud levels drop – report

The amount of fraud being committed on plastic cards across the country fell in the first half of the year, industry body Financial Fraud Action UK says, quoted by the BBC.

Experts indicate that a possible reason for the sharp drop may be that fraudsters have started targeting foreign-issued cards more than UK-issued ones, particularly cards without chip and PIN protection. This conclusion is supported by the fact that during H1 2009, foreign-issued cards fraud committed in the UK rose by 36 percent.

Card not present fraud was worth GBP 134 million in H1 2009, an 18 percent drop compared to the same interval in 2008. One possible reason for the decrease in card not present – which is perpetrated when cards are employed to buy goods or services over the phone, internet or mail order – is the introduction of additional online payments security tools such as MasterCard Secure Code and Verified by Visa, Financial Fraud Action UK experts claim.

The amount of fraud perpetrated using counterfeit cards fell 48 percent to GBP 46.3 million, while lost or stolen card fraud levels dropped 6 percent to GBP 25.1 million. The only card fraud category that registered an increase was card ID theft, which rose 23 percent to GBP 23.9 million.

“Today’s figures from Financial Fraud Action UK are both good news and bad news for UK banks and consumers. The fact that card fraud losses have dropped 23 percent recognises the work that the banking industry in the UK has done to introduce tools such as real time monitoring and blocking of transactions, EMV, or authentication products such as CAP devices. I think it is true to say that fraud has moved overseas, to countries that don’t have the comprehensive systems in place yet to prevent fraud, or who haven’t completed their EMV roll out, but as those systems are introduced they will impact fraud levels“, according to Michelle Weatherhead, risk solutions manager at ACI Worldwide.