Banks lost $1.7 billion to deposit-account fraud, according to an American Bankers Association survey.
Debit card fraud accounted for 54%, or $943 million, of the industry's fraud losses, according to the March-July 2013 survey of 145 banks with $6.2 trillion in total assets. Check fraud accounted for 37%, or $648 million. Online banking and electronic transactions fraud made up the remaining 9%, or $153 million, of losses.
The damage could have been a lot worse, according to the survey. Banks' preventative measures were said to have stopped $13 billion in potential fraud losses.
Banks halted $7 billion in losses from check fraud, $5 billion from debit card fraud and $1 billion from other forms of fraud including online banking and Automated Clearing House payments.
"Bank and customer vigilance has successfully stopped the vast majority of fraud attempts," Doug Johnson, vice president of risk management policy at ABA, said in a Wednesday press release.
