UK fraud stats: better but still some way to go

The latest stats on UK fraud from the UK Cards Association provide some interesting food for thought and it is of course excellent to see that UK credit and debit card fraud fell by 28 percent in 2009, compared to the previous year.

However, fraud will always move to the weakest area and exponential growth in use of the internet for banking and shopping in recent years has arguably left the security industry playing Wiley Coyote to the fraudsters’ Roadrunner. Indeed, the report revealed large areas where there is still much work to be done in online fraud – namely online banking, where fraud reached £59.7m in 2009, a 14% rise compared with the previous year.

Interestingly, the results also show that card-not-present-fraud has decreased by 19 percent. The reason cited for this is increased use two-factor authentication tools, MasterCard SecureCode and Verified by Visa.

Therefore, while the industry has taken worthwhile steps to tackle fraud in the UK, there is clearly still work to be done in making the internet a safe environment for banking and shopping. I believe the key lies in implementing security measures that can be adopted easily into people’s daily lives. Although we’ve seen a reduction in CNP fraud due to 3D secure consumers have in general been reluctant to adopt these measures as they mean remembering yet another password for each card owned. The same reluctance has been seen with card readers.

With this in mind, online payment security today needs to focus on finding the right balance between top notch security and ease of use while also ensuring the chosen mechanism works in line with, rather than against, the increasingly mobile natures of peoples’ lives. As such, using the mobile phone as a vehicle for new two factor authentication tools makes real sense. With over 90% of people now carrying one, the potential for uptake of this as an anti fraud tool is huge.