According to the press release, the overall decline in all card fraud, from USD 576 million to USD 464 million, came as total card spending rose 3.9% to a record USD 819 billion in 2019. The fraud rate dipped from 73 cents to 57 cents for every USD 1000 spent on cards, a level not seen since 2014 and below that of comparable countries internationally.
Moreover, card-not-present (CNP) fraud, mainly affecting online transactions, declined 18% to USD 403 million in 2019. This decline coincided in part with the introduction in July 2019 of the CNP Fraud Mitigation Framework, a key industry-wide initiative to counter CNP fraud. CNP fraud occurs when valid card details are stolen and used to make purchases or other payments without the card being present, usually online. It has grown steadily in recent years in line with the growth in ecommerce, dropping in 2019 but still accounting for 87% of all card fraud.
AusPayNet’s data also shows sharp declines in other types of card fraud, with fraud on lost and stolen cards down 37% and counterfeit/skimming fraud down 14.3%. Furthermore, The AusPayNet fraud report includes a spotlight on payment scams and reveals that the losses from them, reported to the ACCC, increased by 34% to USD 143 million in 2019, while losses reported to all entities reached USD 634 million.
Steps that consumers can take to prevent payments fraud include:
only providing card details on secure and trusted websites – look for the locked padlock icon and be wary of offers that look to good to be true;
treating unsolicited emails and text messages from people they don’t know with suspicion – don’t click on the link provided and don’t be tricked into divulging confidential data such as passwords;
regularly checking statements and reporting any unusual transactions to their financial institution immediately;
registering for, and using, their financial institution’s online fraud prevention solutions, whenever prompted;
doing checks to make sure the online business is legitimate;
always keeping PC security software up-to-date and doing a full scan often.
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