UK Card Fraud Losses Climbed 18 Percent In 2015

It has been reported that UK card fraud rose a staggering 18 percent in 2015, the sharpest rise across the whole of Europe. The UK, Denmark and France stand to benefit the most from additional security measures for card payments, and additional investments from merchants and issuers. Further, 10 of the 19 European countries monitored suffered more card fraud in 2015 than in 2014. Robert Capps, VP at NuData Security commented below.

Robert Capps, VP at NuData Security:

“I’m saddened but not shocked to see these findings. Coupled with the data that cardholders have very high expectations, that they aren’t willing to change their habits when it comes to password security, and tech savvy users are the most likely targets, FI’s and e-retailers are being increasingly pressured to step-up their game in when it comes to online authentication. In fact, the pressure seems to be all on them.

In this study, the fact that fraud losses climbed 18% in one year in the UK is a sad state of affairs for consumers who can often bear the brunt of the costs (especially with regard to account takeover and new account fraud). It’s absolutely no wonder that consumers are pushing back on companies to improve security, holding them accountable for it, yet still want to have a good experience going through the gates.

With the incorporation of the EMV chip into cards, there is now no doubt that fraudsters have migrated online where the field is greener, especially since so many merchant and financial institutions are still using end-point authentication methods that just don’t provide a confident verification of the genuine user.

We can move beyond single-point solutions that are so obviously failing. The end game has to be customer satisfaction, as it should be. Companies should never have to put process and security above customers, and there are now tools on the market that can verify users by their own natural behaviour. That should be where we start and finish.”