15% Fraud Drop in U.K.

Card-not-present fraud in the United Kingdom fell an estimated 15% last year, to $416 million, according to Retail Decisions PLC, a London company that provides fraud prevention technology.

Online, mail order and telephone fraud will fall 5% in 2010, said Retail Decisions, which also provides card processing and issuing services. It said it does not expect the fraud rate to fall next year because fraudsters will have figured out ways crack certain systems.

The migration of credit card payments to online channels such as smart phones and laptops could invite fraud. Fraud artists view mobile payments as ripe for attack, Carl Clump, Retail Decisions' chief executive officer, said in a press release last week.

The company recommends that retailers combat fraud by using nonintrusive, instantaneous prevention technologies, such as neural networks, pattern recognition and velocity engines, and proprietary, domestic and international screening databases.

Overall, card-not-present fraud accounted for more than 50% of card fraud in the United Kingdom last year, versus 10% in 1998.

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