Debit card fraud continues to evolve as payment activity increasingly shifts toward online and mobile channels, forcing financial institutions to rethink how they approach fraud prevention and customer protection. Research from Mercator Advisory Group shows that while EMV technology has helped reduce certain types of fraud, losses still exceed $2 billion annually in the United States. As issuers and acquirers deploy new security tools and authentication methods, the challenge remains balancing stronger fraud prevention with the seamless digital experiences consumers now expect across card-not-present payment environments.
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Data for this episode of Truth In Data provided by Mercator Advisory Group’s report – The State of Debit Card Fraud
- Issuers & Acquirers have adopted varying solutions and implemented them to varying extents
- Fraud is ever-evolving, requiring continuous investment and mitigation
- As solutions are continuously deployed, they must not add friction to the customer experience
- After a slow start, Debit cards are being used more frequently in online and mobile channels
- In relative dollar value loss, debit fraud actually declined in 2018 (<1%); but thats because debit card growth jumped to 6.2%
- Losses to Debit card fraud still top $2 billion per year nationwide
About this report
Managing fraud needs a new approach. Debit card fraud since implementation of EMV is well managed despite a barrage of threats, but as the shift in transactions toward card-not-present channels continues and criminal tactics evolve accordingly, fraud prevention takes on a more critical role. Cardholders can be more effectively engaged in the fraud prevention effort if it is viewed as a product relationship service not a back-office function. Keeping debit cardholders safe from fraud protects not just the card but the core relationship.
