Card fraud figures show rise in ID theft

Credit card fraud resulting from identity theft grew by almost half last year, according to figures released today by the Association of Payment Clearing Services (Apacs).

Fraud based on obtaining credit cards and loans using a victim's personal details has risen by 45 per cent from 2002, to £29.7m.

Sandra Quinn, Apacs communications director, said in a statement: "When plastic cards were first introduced in the 1960s it was never envisaged they would be used to buy goods where neither the card nor the cardholder would be present.

"Criminals have used this fact to their advantage, primarily by stealing people's card details through such techniques as skimming or 'bin raiding'."

Cardholder-not-present is now the biggest fraud type, but its rate of growth last year was markedly lower than in previous years, increasing by six per cent to £116.4m.

Meanwhile, counterfeit, lost or stolen card fraud and instances of fraud in mainland Europe all dropped last year. Apacs cited sophisticated fraud intelligence systems and the advent of chip and Pin cards for improvements in these areas.

Overall, last year saw the first decrease in the amount of fraud involving UK credit cards overseas in eight years, from £424.6m in 2002 to £402m in 2003. But UK-based fraudulent transactions showed a slight increase.

See also:

28 arrested in global web fraud sting

Worldwide organised crime network dealing in ID theft and fraud  29 Oct 2004

Barclays unveils key anti-cyberfraud device

Bank issues card readers to 5,000 customers in trial of secure online transactions  06 Jul 2004

MasterCard to combat phishing and ID theft

Credit card giant uses NameProtect technology to detect online scams in real time  22 Jun 2004

Reseller stung by bogus customer

ITP warns of importance of credit insurance  10 May 2004

Watch out: There's an ID thief about

Danny Bradbury reports on how businesses are coping with identity fraud.  15 Apr 2004

MasterCard moves to cut online fraud

Self-certification scheme for e-tailers highlights risks and produces security rating  08 Apr 2004

Fear the human factor

Little is made of the perennial weakest link in the prevention of fraud: human error  22 Mar 2004

'Card not present' attacks rise

A rising tide of internet credit card fraud is threatening to drown smaller UK resellers as online criminals step up attacks on channel players  14 Mar 2004

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