Card fraud rockets by a quarter

Boom in activity abroad sparks 25 per cent rise in fraud losses on UK-issued credit cards, according to Apacs

The channel will be uneasy at new figures showing UK credit card fraud rocketed by 25 per cent in 2007.

Driven by a 77 per cent boom in fraud from abroad, total credit and debit card fraud losses on UK-issued cards grew from £427m in 2006 to £535.2m last year.

The figures, released today by UK payment association Apacs, showed fraud from abroad now accounts for over a third (39 per cent) of total card fraud losses.

In a worrying development for resellers, card-not-present fraud mushroomed by 37 per cent to £290.5m.

Meanwhile, counterfeit card fraud rocketed 46 per cent to £144.3m, while card ID theft was up 7 per cent to £24.1m.

Fraud on lost or stolen cards was down, however, by 18 per cent, while mail non-receipt fraud also declined.

Sandra Quinn, director of communications at Apacs, was quick to defend the introduction of chip and PIN.

“Although card fraud levels have now begun to go up again due to fraud abroad and card-not-present fraud losses, chip-and-pin has proven to be an undoubted success in reducing card fraud on the UK high street,” she said.

“And, as more countries follow our lead and upgrade to chip-and-pin, the opportunities for criminals to use our stolen magnetic stripe details overseas will decrease.”