Card fraud criminals hit region for £120m

CRIMINALS have made almost 120m from credit and debit card fraud in Yorkshire in the past five years, industry figures reveal today.

Data published by the UK Cards Association show that losses on plastic cards in the region have totalled 119.6m since 2005.

Initiatives like chip and pin technology have helped to reduce the amount stolen year on year, with Yorkshire losses down from 27.3m in 2005 to 18.8m in 2009.

The trend was seen across Britain, where losses on all areas of card fraud fell by 28 per cent last year to 440.3m – the first annual decline since 2006.

But online banking fraud rose by 14 per cent to 59.7m as criminals used increasingly sophisticated methods to obtain customers’ account details.

There was also a 16 per cent increase in phishing attacks, under which fraudsters trick people into giving away their account details by e-mailing them and asking them to enter the information through a link to a website.

The UK Cards Association said the introduction of chip and pin technology had led to fraud on lost and stolen cards dropping to 47.9m in 2009, its lowest level for two decades.

Association chairwoman Melanie Johnson said: “We recognise that cards will always be targeted by criminals, so we are determined not only to continue to prevent, detect and deter those who are behind this type of crime, but also to make sure that innocent victims don’t lose out.”

Counterfeit card fraud also fell by 52 per cent during the year to 80.9m, a level last seen in 1999.

Fraud losses at retailers fell by 27 per cent, while cash machine fraud was down 20 per cent and fraud on cards that were intercepted in the post dropped 32 per cent. Cheque fraud losses fell from 41.9m to 29.8m in 2009.

David Cooper, chairman of the payment industry’s leading fraud prevention group, the Fraud Control Steering Group, said: “Although online banking fraud losses have shown a year-on-year increase, card fraud remains a main focus of criminal activity.”