Credit card fraud decreases as online theft increases

Fraud seems to take on many different forms these days and the trend seems to change frequently as time goes on. Not too long ago the dangers mainly met credit card customers, but these days online fraud is a lot more common.

The main reason for this is obviously the fact that better security measures have been introduced. Chip and pin machines in particular have dramatically cut down the problem of credit card fraud and that has meant that fraudsters have had to look into new ways to get to people’s details. Online provides them with the perfect opportunity and so that is why figures have increased over the last year.

A study that was conducted earlier on in the year by APACS showed that within the first six months of 2006, figures regarding credit card fraud had already started decreasing. They were down by 5% and the figure only continued to decrease as time went on. However, online fraud increased by up to 22% which is quite a dramatic change.

So whilst credit card fraud has declined in a face to face environment, unfortunately fraudsters can still get your card details; they just find them online. So the news is good in one way, but in another you are still not completely safe. So whilst you may think that purchasing something online is safer than purchasing it in a store, these days you would be wrong. It is much safer to go out and use your card than it is to use it online.

The best advice you can follow to reduce the risk of getting caught up in online credit card fraud, is making sure that you use only secure websites. You can purchase practically anything over the internet and fraudsters take full advantage of websites which are not properly secure.