Migration to the EMV standard in the United Kingdom seems to have pushed card fraudsters into low-tech methods such as interception of card mailers, phishing, and other forms of social engineering. Alarmingly…
…criminals have turned their attention to more straightforward ways of getting hold of people’s cards and PINs. This includes distracting people in shops or at cash machines and then stealing their cards without them noticing, as well as simply tricking them into handing over their cards and PINs on their own doorstep.
Overall, the rate of payment card fraud loss declined by one third of a basis point in the first half of 2012, from 0.066% of total volume to 0.063%, according to the UK Cards Association. The total lost in the first six months of this year was 185 million GBP, a 9% increase over the same period in 2011. The losses in all card fraud categories increased, with card-not-present fraud remaining the largest, but rising only 6% over the first half of last year to 115.8 million GBP. Card ID-Theft, which includes both account takeover and the opening of card accounts using stolen identities, though small by comparison, experienced the greatest percentage increase over H1 2011 at 27% to 14.6 million GBP.