According to The UK Cards Association, total fraud losses on UK cards totaled £185.0 million between January and June 2012. This is a 9 per cent increase on losses in the first half of last year (£169.8 million), but represents a fall of 39% from the total of £304.2 million in the first half of 2008 when fraud was at its peak.
The Cards Association claims this increase is due to basic frauds such as card theft and phishing. According to them, “Chip and PIN” technology is making it increasingly harder for criminals to commit fraud and is forcing them to more obvious ways of getting hold of people’s cards and PINs. Two campaigns have been launched this year to make the public aware and combat this kind of crime.
Online fraud also saw an increase from 2011, this time a hefty 28%, totaling £21.6 million during the January-June 2012 period. According to the UK Cards Association this has been driven by a huge increase in the number of phishing websites set up by criminals as part of a scam to trick customers into visiting these fake websites and disclosing their online banking login details. Moreover, online banking customers are being tricked into divulging their online login details and passwords over the phone to someone they believe is from their bank but is actually a fraudster.
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