New data released by the Financial Fraud Action UK (FFA UK), online banking fraud increased by 48% to reach £60.4 ($90) million in 2014 with the main fraud issues being malware and confidence tricksters that trick consumers into giving sensitive personal and financial data. Despite the massive growth, the FFA UK says that with just 53192 actual incidents of online banking fraud in a market of 30 million online banking individuals, perspective is important.
From a payment card segment perspective, the FFA UK announced that fraud losses on UK cards went up by 6%, totaling £479 ($711) million in 2014, however the FFA was quick to point out that overall card losses are still 21% lower than the peak of £609.9 ($906) million back in 2008. Commenting on the results of the data, detective chief inspector, Perry Stokes, head of the dedicated card and payment crime unit (DCPCU) UK police unit said, “Fraudsters can be very convincing…..consumers must beat the fraudsters by making sure you have up to date anti-virus software.”
While the data shows an increase in fraud losses, like the FFA highlights, it is important to keep the growth in context as the UK electronic payment and banking market continues to rapidly grow. Furthermore, this is a trend being experienced around the world with markets like France, Australia and even less mature markets like South Africa.
For more information on international fraud trends, including data on the UK, France, Australia and South Africa see Mercator Advisory Group’s recent Research Report, Global Payment Card Fraud Trends and Statistics released in March 2015.
Overview by Tristan Hugo-Webb, Associate Director, Global Payments for Mercator Advisory Group
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