The UK experienced an increase in card fraud and online banking fraud losses during the first half of the year (view press release). Figures released by the UK Card Association showed that basic frauds such as distraction thefts and people being tricked into giving their card, PINs and financial passwords to criminals contributed to this small overall increase. Cheque fraud losses also increased, however phone banking losses fell by a fifth.
Total fraud losses on UK cards totalled GBP185.0 million between January and June 2012. Online banking fraud losses totalled GBP1.6 million during January to June 2012 - a 28% increase on the 2011 half-year figure. This has been driven by a huge increase in the number of phishing websites, says the UK Cards Association, as well as an uptick in deception scams.
