UK Companies Anti-Fraud Measures

11th August 2008.

US prosecutors have charged 11 people with stealing debit and credit card details for tens of millions of people in the USA dating back to 2003 and continuing to 2007. In the light of this UK credit card companies and banks have reassured the public regarding their credit card fraud measures.

At APACS, the UK payments association. a spokeswoman said its anti-fraud activities were working. "In the past three years losses on face-to-face transactions on the UK high street have fallen by two-thirds, from £218m in 2004 to £73m last year. Fraud on lost and stolen cards and mail non-receipt fraud are at their lowest levels for 10 years."

The spokeswoman added that responsibility for card security rests on three key players: banks and card issuers, consumers who use them, and retailers who accept them.

The credit card companies and banks operate sophisticated systems that alert their own internal fraud teams if suspicious use of a card is detected. "We have the largest fraud department in Europe, with 400 people monitoring card transactions. We also operate a fraud referral system, called Falcon, which looks for suspicious transactions at home and abroad.

"Every transaction has a score with a number attached and we give different weightings to the amount spent, what type of retailer the card is being used with, in which country, what the time of day is and so on. If you get above a certain number, your transaction will be referred back and we will attempt to get in touch with you to ensure that it is legitimate" said a Barclaycard spokesperson.