Counter-measures bite at fraud rate
The amount of card fraud in the UK dropped substantially last year, with losses on credit and debit cards falling by 28% as the benefits of a raft of counter-measures took hold.
Overall, losses incurred through fraud dropped to a total of £440.3 million - the first time the figure has declined for four years - the UK Cards Association said.
The group added that the introduction of Chip and Pin had contributed to the decline, with the amount lost to fraud on lost and stolen cards also dropping to a record low level of £47.9 million. Counterfeit card fraud also dived by 52% during the year to £80.9 million, a level last seen in 1999.
Fraud losses at UK retailers fell by 27%, while UK cash machine fraud was down 20% and fraud on cards that were intercepted in the post dropped by 32%.
But sophisticated counter-measures also drove criminals to develop their own sophisticated methods largely targeting online banking fraud, which jumped by 14% last year.
Card-not-present fraud, such as the fraudulent use of credit and debit cards to buy things over the internet, telephone and through mail order companies, also fell despite not being impacted by chip and Pin.
The group attributed the 19% drop to £266.4 million to the use of sophisticated fraud detection tools by retailers and banks, as well as the growth in security systems such as MasterCard SecureCode and Verified by Visa, which make buying things online more secure.