Credit Card Fraud worse than expected

Data detailing the amount of credit card losses through fraud in 2007 amounted to over £290 million. However after an investigation performed by the BBC there are now worries that this figure was drastically underestimated by as much as £500 million.

The fraudulent use of credit cards happens frequently via phone, mail order and internet use as the card holder does not need to be present in order to use the card and make a purchase. By getting access to the card or the details on it, someone could masquerade as the card holder and rack up debts on cards that don't belong to them.

In fact over half of money lost through fraudulent card transactions was when the cardholder was not present. It seems that hundreds of credit cards get stolen on a weekly basis, and many of these stolen card details are now posted on websites and can be bought for as little as £1 by those who know where and how to access the information.

It appears that the items most commonly bought are electronic gadgets such as laptops, satellite navigation systems for cars and PDA's. And they are not necessarily for their own use as many are then sold on to someone else for a fraction of the retail price - but of course the fraudster is getting money for nothing essentially.

The government so far have pledged to invest £29 million over 3 years to fight the battle against online fraud but despite this there was a 25% increase in fraudulent card use across the UK, and more may need to be done including working with banks to introduce anti-fraud procedures amongst all retailers.