Fraud committed on UK credit and debit cards rose 18% to £478.8 million in the year to July 2004, with a sharp increase in crime involving cards that have been intercepted in the post, according to the latest figures from the Association of Payment Clearing Services (Apacs).
Mail non-receipt fraud was up 51% to £62.2 million, boosted by the thousands of replacement cards that banks are sending out to customers in time for the roll out of chip and PIN technology.
The chip and PIN programme says 56.8 million cards have been issued by UK banks and building societies, but some customers are not expecting a replacement card and so are unaware of chip and PIN cards that are intercepted in the post.
The Apacs figures also show a massive 61% increase in identity fraud to £37 million, while card-not-present fraud was up by almost a third (29%) to 138.8 million.
Fraud on counterfeit cards was down two per cent to £123.0 million, but there was an 11% increase in crime involving lost and stolen cards, which hit £118.8 million.