UK card fraud losses climbed by 18% in 2015, the sharpest rise in Europe, driven by online shopping and data breaches.
The data from Fico shows that most of the 18% rise in losses came from online transactions, equating to an additional £88.5 million lost to criminals. Some 75% (£66.7 million) of that increase was in card not present (CNP) fraud, and £42.4 million of CNP fraud came from e-commerce.
The UK contributed about 43% of the total card fraud losses across the 19 European countries studied, followed by Greece, Denmark, France and Russia, with CNP fraud driving losses ten percent higher across Europe.
As a share of total card payments for the researched markets in Europe, total value lost to fraud declined from .08% to .06% from 2010 to 2015 reflecting improvements in card payment security. However, the method of value lost to fraud is shifting to target the transition to online retailing, says Fico fraud consultant Martin Warwick, with a portion of the blame attached to customer expectations for a seamless purchasing experience.
“We cardholders are very demanding, and if we don’t get what we want then we let people know in the form of reviews and feedback, not to mention switching cards,” he says. “Banks want to avoid intervening unnecessarily when customers are shopping on the internet. E-commerce spending in the UK has nearly quadrupled since 2007, so you see why this is such a target for criminals.”