Online bank fraud rises; Plastic card fraud dips.
Updated : Tuesday, July 06, 2010
Yesterday, finextra.com reported that the UK Financial services
industry experienced a 55% increase in online banking fraud for the
first 6 months of 2009, compared to the same period last
year.
However, losses on plastic cards fell by 23% to £232.8m in the
first half of 2009. Losses attributed to counterfeit cards almost
halved to £46.3 million from £88.8 million a year earlier, while
card not present fraud experienced its first ever decline from
£163.9 million in H1 2008 to £134 million this year.
Katy Worobec, head of fraud control at FFAUK, says: "Although it's
difficult to prove, we think that one of the reasons for this dip
in card losses may simply be as a result of fraudsters realising
that they can prosper more by targeting ... those without Chip
& PIN protection."
Suresh Vaghjiani, Cactus Product Manager at Vincento, says: "The
standalone nature of a prepaid card is clearly beneficial in
limiting the impact of fraud, as the loss is limited to the funds
it holds, rather than a potentially much higher balance in the
customer's bank account. However, we believe that we should be
working hard to protect our customers against fraudulent activity
from occurring in the first place: the Cactus prepaid MasterCard is
Chip & PIN protected; we support our customers with chargebacks
and protect their balance if they report their card lost or
stolen."
The Cactus online account adopts the highest level of security,
with a range of features preventing automated entry attempts and
verifying customers' identities. Fraud monitoring and reporting are
vital elements of the Cactus system in detecting and preventing
unauthorised account activity.
"It's not just the customer that we are looking to protect, but
merchants also," says Suresh Vaghjiani. "Online merchants accepting
payments with Cactus can rely on the fact that these are guaranteed
funds, eliminating the possibility of any 'wasn't me' chargebacks.
There is no doubt that as the use of electronic money increases, so
will the associated instances of fraud. These results show that it
is possible to effectively target the fraudsters, and Vincento will
be there at the forefront, protecting its customers and
merchants."
For further information, please contact:
press@vincento.co.uk
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