Debit card fraud up
(11 December 2009 – Australia) Figures from the Australia Payments Clearing Authority (APCA) show the frequency of debit card fraud sits at around two in every 100,000 transactions, with total losses from June 2008 to June 2009 totalling A$19.15 million.
The results indicated that for every A$1,000 transacted the level of fraud rose from 7.4 cents to 8.5 cents and the association is blaming ATM skimming for the rise.
In contrast, credit card and charge card skimming fraud experienced slower growth - up 5.1% this year compared to 59.7% in 2008.
Speaking from the National Identity Crime Symposium in October, Chief Inspector, Elvis Tudose, said that gangs discovered Australia’s weaknesses some time ago and they think it is an easy target because of the large withdrawal limits on cards and old ATMs.
Mr Tudose referred to a gang caught recently in Victoria that was skimming as much as A$32,000 a day from Australian accounts.
Earlier this month Commonwealth Bank of Australia moved to combat the problem by introducing anti-skimming kits across its entire retail network.
Chris Hamilton, CEO, APCA, said that the levelling off in skimming on credit and charge cards is good news and suggests that chip based authentication is starting to have an effect.
Chip transactions at point of sale are already commonplace, but APCA estimates it will take another three years before the rollout is complete. This major industry programme is clearly the key to combating card present fraud, Mr Hamilton added.
In contrast, credit card and charge card skimming fraud experienced slower growth - up 5.1% this year compared to 59.7% in 2008.
Speaking from the National Identity Crime Symposium in October, Chief Inspector, Elvis Tudose, said that gangs discovered Australia’s weaknesses some time ago and they think it is an easy target because of the large withdrawal limits on cards and old ATMs.
Mr Tudose referred to a gang caught recently in Victoria that was skimming as much as A$32,000 a day from Australian accounts.
Earlier this month Commonwealth Bank of Australia moved to combat the problem by introducing anti-skimming kits across its entire retail network.
Chris Hamilton, CEO, APCA, said that the levelling off in skimming on credit and charge cards is good news and suggests that chip based authentication is starting to have an effect.
Chip transactions at point of sale are already commonplace, but APCA estimates it will take another three years before the rollout is complete. This major industry programme is clearly the key to combating card present fraud, Mr Hamilton added.
Subscribe