Credit and debit card fraud is on the rise

Credit and debit card fraud has rocketed in the last year, it has been revealed. Total losses amounted to £535 million last year, figures released by UK bank payments association Apacs show - an increase of 25 per cent on 2006 levels. It is the first time that there has been an increase in overall card fraud losses since chip-and-pin technology was introduced in 2003. However, much of the fraud committed - more than £200 million, to be exact - takes place abroad and as a result Apacs is trying to encourage other countries to implement chip-and-pin technology. The US, though, despite being the country in which overseas fraud is most likely to take place, is showing "no indication as yet that they [the US] are at all bothered" about introducing chip-and-pin, an Apacs spokesperson told the Guardian. The fact that Britain has... [read full story]