1 in 4 Report Being a Victim of Card Fraud

The 2012 Global Card Fraud Survey by ACI Worldwide represents the insights and opinions of more than 5200 card holders from 17 countries and focuses exclusively on the impact to the card holder and their state of mind. Residents of Mexico and the United States reported the highest rate of card fraud experience. Some of the survey’s other key findings include:

• Financial Institutions are running the risk of losing customers due to fraud, either directly, or through a decreased use of their cards.
• Consumers report they fear identity theft most and would like to be notified immediately by banks of any potential fraud. They would like to be kept informed of the progress of any fraud disputes.
• While fearing identity theft consumers are also demonstrating continued risky behaviors such as writing down personal identification numbers (PIN), failing to destroy personal documents and sharing credit card data on electronic devices lacking security software.
• Consumers also shared their thoughts regarding what types of transactions they trust most and who they most trust in the event of fraud happening.

Financial Institutions have to comply with additional regulations including recommendation from the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC). That includes sophisticated methods of identifying devices and knowing their reputation (past and current behavior and other devices they are associated with) the moment they touch the banking website.

Protect yourself from card fraud by paying attention to your statements every month and refute unauthorized charges immediately. I check my charges online once every two weeks. If I’m traveling extensively, especially out of the country, I let the credit card company know ahead of time, so they won’t shut down my card while I’m on the road.

Robert Siciliano, personal security and identity theft expert contributor to iovation. He is the author of 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Your Mobile was Hacked! See him knock’em dead in this identity theft prevention video. Disclosures.