The trade organisation responsible for UK payments has reported that card fraud losses are continuing to fall in Northern Ireland.

APACS reported that card fraud in Northern Ireland in 2006 was down by 12% at £700,000.

The fraud figures for 2006 published today by APACS showed that total card fraud losses in the UK fell by 3% in the past year to £428m – a decrease of nearly £80m over the past two years.

This fall has been driven by a 13% decrease in UK domestic fraud and the combined reduction of more than £45m in mail non-receipt and lost and stolen fraud.

The Association credited the reduction to the Chip and PIN system which has made it more difficult for fraudsters to commit card fraud in the UK. Total losses at UK retailers fell by almost £147m over the past two years.

However, APACS said criminals were still targeting cards with the aim of copying magnetic stripe data. This data may be used to create counterfeit cards that can potentially be used in countries that have not yet upgraded to Chip and PIN. This has caused the increase in fraud abroad, with increased losses over the last year.

Over the same time period, card-not-present fraud losses have increased by 16% and now account for just under half of all card fraud losses.

However, APACS point out that total fraud losses on plastic cards is 0.09% in 2006 – significantly less than the 0.14% figure in 2004.

(SP/KMcA)