APACS, the U.K. payments association, is encouraging consumers to keep their personal identification numbers secure when using chip-and-PIN cards.
The group issued an educational brochure last week advising people to be more careful when entering their PINs.
A 2006 survey found that 20% of cardholders "rarely" or "never" guard it when entering their PINs and that 27% use the same PIN for all cards.
"Simple measures such as shielding your PIN with your free hand whenever you enter it into a keypad will significantly reduce your chances of becoming a victim of fraud," Sandra Quinn, the director of communications at APACS, said in a press release Thursday.
The United Kingdom completed a national conversion to the Europay-MasterCard-Visa security standard in February 2006, requiring the use of PINs with smart cards instead of magnetic-stripe cards.
