Card fraud up 25% on overseas scams

Credit and debit card fraud losses soared by 25 per cent last year, mainly due to stolen cards being used abroad.

According to the Association of Payment Clearing Services (Apacs), losses amounted to £535 million - as overseas card fraud rose 77 per cent.

Since the introduction of Chip and Pin, criminals are finding it difficult to use stolen cards in cash machines or shops.

But they are finding other methods such as using cards abroad where there is no need for Pin, or ordering over the internet.

This means ‘card not present’ fraud now amounts to more than half of all card losses, at £290.5 million.

Online banking fraud was down 33 per cent, however, despite an increase in phishing scams, Apacs said.

Sandra Quinn, director of communications at Apacs, said: “Although card fraud levels have now begun to go up again due to fraud abroad and card-not-present fraud losses, Chip and Pin has proven to be an undoubted success in reducing card fraud on the UK high street.”

Apacs is hoping fraud caused by cards used abroad - which resulted in losses of £207.6 million last year - will be reduced once the European banking industry meets its target to complete its chip card rollout by 2010.