New warning on credit card fraud
Source: BBC News
Date: November 10, 2003
Fraudsters steal about GBP 800 a minute using credit cards over the net, phone or fax, a watchdog body says.
Payments where the owner is not present to sign a receipt are most vulnerable to fraud, the Association of Payment Clearing Services (Apacs) warned.
Most people, it said, did not realise credit card receipts contained all the information needed by a fraudster.
It urged people to be more aware and shred bank statements and receipts.
Remote credit card fraud has risen by 33% over the past two years, according to the association.
It said recently introduced security measures, such as the introduction of so-called chip and pin cards, did not lead to a reduction in this type of fraud.
These cards do not need a signature when purchases are made, instead requiring consumers to input a four-digit code.
One in five UK credit card users are expected to have the new cards by the end of the year, and more than half of all cardholders are likely to have them several months after that
Counterfeit cards
Apacs said GBP 300,000 a week was stolen by people buying something remotely using the details of another person's credit card - about GBP109.6 million a year.
It said a survey of 2,000 people indicated that one in three people did not shred or burn bank and credit card statements, while 19% had let someone else use their card to buy something over the internet or telephone.
One in five people admitted they only occasionally checked their statements or did not look at them at all, and 17% said it did not worry them if someone took their card out of their sight while they were shopping.
According to the association, "cardholder not present" fraud is the second largest element of credit card fraud, valued at a total of GBP 411.6m in the year up until June.
The biggest contributor remained counterfeit card fraud, when information on a card is illegally copied, at GBP 128.8m.
Fraudulent use of lost or stolen cards cost the industry GBP 107.2 million during the same period.
Fraud as a result of identity theft, when someone uses another person's details to apply for credit in their name, reached a value GBP25 million, up from GBP15.4 million the previous year.
Original article
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