Card fraud in the North down on back of new technology

Card fraud losses in the North have dropped due to new technology used to thwart the crooks, it emerged today.

The amount lost was reduced to £700,000 (€1m) last year, down 12% from the £800,000 (€1.1m) total in 2005.

UK payments association APACS revealed the new level, the second year running the figure had come down in the North.

Andrew Fallis, Head of Card Development at Northern Bank, attributed the success to the chip and pin system used to protect credit cards.

He said: “We’re very pleased that fraud continues to fall. In Northern Ireland fraud peaked in 2004 when the figure reached £1.1m (€1.6m), but thanks to the successful introduction of chip and pin technology this figure is in decline.”

Despite the progress, Mr Fallis warned banks, police and customers against complacency.

“The introduction of chip and pin has certainly made it more difficult for fraudsters to commit card fraud in the UK,” he added.

“However, criminals are still targeting cards with the aim of copying the magnetic stripe data.

“They use this data to create counterfeit magnetic stripe cards that can potentially be used in countries that haven’t upgraded to chip and pin.

“This has caused an increase in fraud abroad over the last 12 months. It’s always a battle to keep ahead of fraudsters, and this is the area where we need to be most vigilant.

“Whilst the overall trend is down, and this is reassuring, we are seeing evidence of fraudsters concentrating their efforts on transactions that do not require chip and pin – over the internet and by mail order for example.”