Credit card holders in Australia are in fraudsters' focus

Overseas criminals are aiming their fraudulent weapons towards Australian credit cards.

The Australian Payments Clearing Association (APCA) collected the information showing that in spite of the fact that the overall rate of fraud on credit cards remains low, online fraud from transactions taking place over the internet has increased sharply.

According to the report, fraud from just credit cards raised from 36.9 cents to 44.5 cents in every $1,000 meantime a big portion of that fraud is fulfilled from abroad which is out of the federal law of Australia.

Moreover much of the fraud is accomplished with card-not-present and cross-border activity, which includes internet, phone, mail and fax.

"What the statistics are telling us is that even as today's technology makes it possible to buy anything from anywhere, it is also making it possible for fraudsters to operate globally," notes Chris Hamilton, APCA's chief executive officer.

"While Australia's payment card fraud rate has increased over the last 12 months it still remains low by global standards. For example, the UK's payment card fraud rate is the equivalent of $1.18 in every $1,000 as against slightly under 28 cents in Australia," he adds.