Total credit and debit card fraud losses in the U.K. increased by 26% between January and June compared with the first half of 2006. This increase was driven by a 126 % rise in fraud on UK-issued cards being used overseas, according to Apacs, a British trade association of banks, building societies and card issuers.
Online, telemarketing and mail order credit card fraud amounted to 137 million pounds ($278.4 million) between January and June, a 44% increase over $95.3 million pounds ($193.7 million) in the prior-year.
“Losses from online, phone and mail order shopping fraud have continued to increase year-on-year,” said Sandra Quinn, an APACS spokeseman, in a statement. “However, this increase has to be seen in the context of increasing numbers of people shopping online and ever-growing numbers of online transactions.”
According to Apacs, the number of adults shopping online has increased by 157 % in the last five years, from 11 million in 2001 to over 28 million last year. By comparison, online, phone and mail order fraud has grown by 122 % during the same period.
In contrast, domestic card fraud in the U.K. continues to fall thanks to chip and personal identification numbers , with losses at UK retailers down 11 % and losses at UK cash machines down 57 %, according to the organization.
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