Increasing bank card fraud

Bank cards are among the most coveted items on the Internet. Ever since the advent of online shopping, some malicious individuals have not hesitated to seek out every possible means of fraudulently recovering Internet users’ bank details.

A few figures on bankcard fraud

The last few years have seen an explosion in online credit card fraud. On e-commerce sites, households can purchase a product from the comfort of their own home. All transactions, including payment, will take place online. Since data theft on the Internet is on the increase, this approach can be costly for Internet users.

In 2010, credit card fraud netted pirates some 74 million euros, compared with 52 million in 2009. These figures were provided by the Observatoire de la sécurité des cartes de paiement. On the other hand, online purchases were lower. Only 5% of national transactions were carried out over the Internet. In contrast to what specialists call traditional frauds – fraudulent withdrawal of bankcards, swindles, etc. – which have stabilized over the last five years, bankcard fraud has doubled since 2010. Yet the number of online payments in France is still negligible.

Credit card fraud and spam

Spammers also play their part in the proliferation of credit card fraud. They don’t hesitate to plagiarize the homepages of banking institutions and then send out a phishing campaign urging Internet users to identify themselves on their bank’s sites. By clicking on the url contained in the spam, they will land on the fraudulent sites, where the hackers can easily collect their bank details.

Securing Internet transactions

In France, existing protection systems are not universally accepted. While they are very well received by banking institutions, buyers and retailers alike are wary of them. The specific authentication request would be considered suspicious by these two players. The latter have even decided to dispense with these devices so as not to put off potential customers.

Currently, only 13% of transactions carried out in France are protected against credit card fraud and theft of personal data. However, the protection rate is over 95% in some countries, such as the UK.

For their part, banking institutions also stand in the way of e-commerce. >They make it compulsory to take out insurance against the loss of bankcards. However, the Payment Services Directive protects customers when fraud occurs without their knowledge. They will have the right to seek redress from their bank, and to be reimbursed for sums debited without their consent.

For a consumer association, the best solution to counter credit card fraud would be to introduce a mandatory authentication system common to the entire commercial sector. The association also calls on the French population to remain vigilant when carrying out financial transactions on e-commerce sites.