Upgrade to fight fraud urges RMIF

With credit card fraud still on the rise, businesses need to make sure they are protecting themselves and their customers from fraudsters, warns the Retail Motor Industry Federation (RMIF).

Over 9.9 billion transactions were made on UK cards in 2007, totaling £567.7 billion, but despite the use of Chip and PIN technology, introduced in 2004 to reduce credit card fraud in retail situations, overall card fraud is still on the rise:

Total card fraud losses in the UK were £535.2m in 2007, 25 per cent up on 2006.

Counterfeit card fraud, where a fake card is created using stolen details, totaled £144.3m in 2007, 46 per cent up on 2006.

However face-to-face fraud has been reduced:

Since the introduction of Chip and PIN in 2004, card fraud in face-to-face transactions has dropped 67 per cent from £218.8m in 2004 to £73m in 2007

Face-to-face card fraud now represents just 14 per cent of total card fraud losses, down from 59 per cent in 2006.

The recent uncovering of a major counterfeit credit card factory by Police in Birmingham shows that despite improvements, the problem persists.

Ray Holloway, RMIF Director of Independent Membership, commented: ‘The introduction of Chip and PIN has greatly reduced credit card fraud, but there are still a few businesses that accept credit payment have yet to move across to Chip and PIN technology. With fraudsters still more than active, the RMIF urges all its members who have not done so already to upgrade to Chip and PIN.

Holloway adds: ‘There are also training courses available that help retail staff identify counterfeit and stolen credit cards, and the RMIF will be advising its membership on this.’