Credit card fraud hits new high in 2004

The latest figures reveal that credit card fraud rose by 20% in 2004. Last year more than £500m was stolen, that is £10 for every man, woman and child in the country.

Fraudsters have been cashing in on the old-style cards before they are phased-out as well as intercepting new Chip and PIN cards in the post.

In 2004 an average of 100,000 new cards were sent out a day, which is double the normal number, many of these cards were ready to use. As a consequence, fraud on cards stolen before the genuine owners received them grew sharply by 62% to £72.9 million.

Sandra Quinn, who is spokesperson for the Association for Payment Clearing Services (APACS), doesn't believe this problem will last much longer. She remarked: "We think the rise in mail non-receipt fraud is temporary because of double the usual amount of cards being sent out last year.

"As more of us use a PIN the harder the criminal's life becomes. But clearly they are going to keep targeting cards."

Customer not present fraud continues to be the biggest credit card fraud type and is up by 24% to £150.8m in 2004 compared to £122.1m before.

Identity theft on cards has grown significantly over the last two years, up 22% from £30.2m in 2003 to £36.9m in 2004, but remains a small proportion of overall fraud losses.