The European Central Bank in its recent report on bank card fraud in Europe announced that although overall levels of fraud has been decreasing, Europe is currently witnessing a rise in internet fraud. The total card fraud in SEPA (Single-European Payment Area) amounted to €1.26 billion in 2010, which is a 0.7 percent increase since 2007.
Fraud conducted in ATM’s have fallen since 2007 by volume but the total losses per transaction has increased suggesting larger fraud share in terms of value. According to the report, ATMs, accounted for a sixth of all fraud in 2010. The opposite trend is noticed for Point of sale transaction fraud. The ECB has attributed a drop in ATM and point-of-sale-related fraud due to wider adoption of chip-based technology, which offers more protection than conventional magnetic stripes.
Also frauds in delayed debit and credit cards were almost four times the share of fraud accounted for ordinary debit cards, as debit cards were most likely used for cash withdraws, and face a different risk of ATM fraud.
The ECB estimate that the biggest source of fraud is Card-Not-Present fraud (CNP), and that 83 percent of CNP fraud is online. CNP has been on an upward trend with a 13.5 percent jump to $784 million in 2010. Notably, CNP fraud has fallen in the UK due to increased fraud screening tools by retailers and payment service providers, such as 3D Secure
The ECB analyzed fraud developments in the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), as well as Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Monaco, and represents 458 million people. Payments acquired in a country in which the card was issued accounted for 93 percent of total transaction value, but only 47 percent of the total fraud, which suggests that most of the fraud was cross-border.