Credit and debit card fraud abroad has risen 77 per cent in the past year alone
Commenting on news that credit and debit card fraud abroad has risen 77 per cent in the past year alone*, Stephen Heath, Chief Executive of FairFX.com, said: “These figures show it’s becoming increasingly difficult for Brits to protect themselves against foreign card fraud.
“The worrying figures from APACS show a 37 per cent rise in internet card fraud and a 46 per cent rise in card cloning, and as criminals get more sophisticated we can only expect these losses to increase. According to APACS, the worst countries for card fraud are America, Italy and Australia.
“One way for Brits to mitigate against fraud losses is to use a prepaid currency card when shopping online or travelling abroad. The chip and PIN technology makes it much harder for these people to clone cards and the fact they are pre-paid, with no credit facility beyond that which is loaded onto the card, means potential losses are limited.
“Pre-paid US dollar cards can be particularly useful for people planning to go to America, where chip and PIN hasn’t been introduced and fraud is more prevalent than any other country. Travellers can still use a pre-paid currency card to withdraw cash and sign for purchases, but their potential losses are also limited by the fact they load only small amounts onto the card and top up online as they go.”
The FairFX Currency Card is a MasterCard chip and pin enabled prepaid debit card. It differs from regular debit cards in two ways. Firstly, the cards are issued in either Euros or US dollars and secondly, funds must be loaded onto the card before they are available to spend. The currency to be loaded is obtained simply by logging on to www.fairfx.com and can be paid for by any sterling debit or credit card or internet bank transfer.
*According to the APACS card fraud figures issued 12.03.08 http://www.apacs.org.uk/2007Fraudfiguresrelease.html
Wednesday 12 March 2008, 03:26pm
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