Legal News

The UK – together with France – has been targeted for most of the credit card fraud which happened in Europe during 2013.

Out of 19 EU countries investigated, the UK and France suffered 62% of the total credit and debit card fraud which occurred in the EU, The Guardian reports.

Researchers used data from Euromonitor to create the Fico Evolution of Fraud Map across Europe.

The map charts changes in the pattern of fraud across the EU between 2006 and 2013. The researchers found that fraud card losses had increased by 6.2% in the year 2012-2013 – and 80% of the losses were suffered in the UK, France, Germany, Russia and Spain. The total amount of EU fraud card loss last year was €1.55 billion.

In the UK, the total amount of card fraud in 2012-2013 was £450 million (€535m) – a rise of 16% on the previous year.

Fico’s principal fraud consultant Martin Warwick said:
“When fraud losses peaked in 2008, UK issuers sharply reduced card fraud through fraud analytics and the introduction of chip and PIN.

“However, criminals have been adapting – pick-pocketing after watching consumers input their PIN, or calling cardholders and purporting to be part of a bank’s fraud team, when actually they are stealing card details.

“Meanwhile in France, chip and PIN has been used for so long that criminals have completely changed their approach and reverted to ID theft, which accounted for 66% of French fraud losses in 2013.

“Its growth has been quite staggering – losses due to ID theft grew from €7.6m in 2006 to €284m in 2013,” Mr Warwick said.

Fico says that fraud operates “like a balloon” – if the fraud market is squeezed in one area, it “bulges” elsewhere, with criminal gangs “constantly testing” to discover which country to target next.

Gangs often operate outside jurisdictions to set up boiler room scams – these may involve selling services or property within a territory by setting up an office outside that territory’s jurisdiction, making it harder for the gang to be detected and brought to justice.

Credit card fraud can also operate in this way, with gangs targeting cardholders by phoning them and pretending to be their bank. Often customers are fooled into giving out card data believing their bank is checking out a potential fraud on their debit or credit card.

Last week, restaurants in London were warned about a scam involving gangs intercepting card payments at expensive restaurants and duping customers into giving out their card details.

The gang phones the restaurant with a new phone number for the card transaction to be completed and asks to speak to the customer to run through “security checks” on their card when it is dialled, so that the cardholder provides the fraudster with personal data on the card.

Duncan Lewis Fraud Lawyers

Duncan Lewis fraud lawyers can advise at any stage of a charge for fraud, including charges relation to:

• Benefit fraud
• Boiler room scams
• Card fraud
• Company fraud
• Conveyancing fraud
• Financial fraud
• ID fraud
• Mortgage fraud
• Passport & visa fraud
• Ticketing fraud.

For expert legal advice on fraud charges and representation at a police station for questioning under caution, contact Duncan Lewis fraud lawyers on 020 7923 4020.