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Card-fraud losses on credit and debit cards in the United Kingdom dropped 23.5% during the first half of this year, to 232.8 million pounds from 304.2 million pounds during the same period in 2008, according to data published this week by Financial Fraud Action UK in conjunction with The UK Cards Association and the Cheque and Credit Clearing Co. The period also marked the first-ever reduction in card-not-present fraud losses, dropping 18.2%, to 134 million pounds from 163.9 million pounds, the firm reports. Financial Fraud Action attributes this decrease to more banks and retailers using fraud-detection tools and to growing use of online-security tools such as MasterCard SecureCode and Verified By Visa. The overall fraud totals also include fraud related to card skimming, lost or stolen cards, identification theft and cards stolen in the mail. "These latest fraud figures are good news, but we know there's no room for complacency," Katy Worobec, Financial Fraud Action head of fraud control, said in a statement. Although industry online-security initiatives such as Verified by Visa and MasterCard SecureCode may be having an effect, fraudsters never are going to close shop, and there are emerging areas, such as online-banking, where fraud is rising, she said. Worobec attributes some of the drop in fraud losses to fraudsters targeting cards issued outside the UK that do no use chip-and-PIN security. "The fact that we've seen a 36% increase in the first half of this year in the amount of fraud being committed on foreign-issued cards here in the UK adds some weight to this theory," Worobec said.
