The UK has become European card fraud capital?

UK tops card fraud rating in Europe. Source: shutterstock.com

According to Social Market Foundation’s analysis of the European Central Bank’s Statistical Data Warehouse data, UK is far ahead its European neighbours in number of victims (134 for every thousand inhabitants) and losses (￡8,833.20 per one thousand people) related to card fraud schemes.

In addition, the value of fraud is more than ￡2000 higher in the UK than the second ranked country, France. It contrasts sharply with Spain, Germany and Italy by a far greater order of magnitude.

Source: smf.co.uk

The available statistics covers the three forms of card fraud:?

• Card-Not-Present (CNP) fraud, where your card number is used for a purchase;
• Point of Sale fraud, where your stolen/cloned card is used to buy something;?
• ATM fraud, where your stolen/copied card is used to withdraw cash.?

CNP fraud constituted 84% of all UK card fraud, so the overwhelming majority of Britons losing their money are people whose card numbers are used without their knowledge or consent.

Moreover, card fraud is the dominant fraud type in Britain. According to the Crime Survey for England and Wales, between April 2021 and March 2022 there were 2.3 million “bank and card frauds” in the region. This number comprised 51% of the total recorded frauds against residents during the period. Other statistic sources confirm that?

Thus, the SMF has urged the Government to adopt a “comprehensive whole-systems” approach to address fraud, starting with recruiting more specialist staff that are trained to handle complex crime. However, increased police staff won’t be enough. The organisation suggests that the entire fraud law enforcement landscape needs “reforms that will transform the system and enact lasting change”.?

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