Fraudulent activity with British credit cards abroad almost doubled

According to recent data, chip and pin technology has resulted in a drop in credit card fraud in the UK over the last year, with general credit card fraud reportedly dropping by 5% according to APACS.

Remote card transactions, where the card does not need to be present, rose by five percent. However, APACS has also reported that fraudulent activity with British credit cards abroad has soared, and in one year alone had nearly doubled.

According to APACS the level of fraudulent activity abroad totalled over one hundred and eighteen million pounds in 2006, and this reflected a rise of around forty three percent on the previous year. However, fraudulent credit card activity within the UK actually fell by around thirteen percent, other than 'card not present' fraud, which actually rose.

Sandra Quinn from APACS spoke about credit card fraud, stating: "Attempts are being made in the UK without success, but then criminals are taking cards and using them abroad in countries where they don't have chip and PIN."

Amongst the three countries that rated top in terms of fraudulent activity with British cards were France, Spain, and the United States of America.

Sandra Quinn added: "There is no one-size-fits-all approach to dealing with fraud. Chip and PIN has had a hugely positive effect on fraud losses over the counter in UK shops and stores, but we are seeing more fraud on transactions that do not use chip and PIN -- over the Internet and phone, by mail order and abroad in countries that have not yet fully upgraded to chip and PIN."

Tom Smith
19th March 2007

More Information:

• Trial of Chip and PIN