By Tim Ferguson, 7 March 2007 13:09
NEWS
Fraud related to identity theft has risen by more than 50 per cent across the pond since 2003, according to analyst Gartner.
Around 15 million US consumers are estimated to have been victims of this kind of fraud from mid-2005 to mid-2006. This compares to Federal Trade Commission figures from 2003 which put the number of ID fraud victims at 9.9 million.
Gartner said electronic theft of sensitive information is the leading cause of credit/debit card fraud and bank account transfer fraud.
silicon.com Financial Services
Get the latest financial services news straight to your inbox. Sign up for the FS newsletter today!
Avivah Litan, senior analyst at Gartner, said thieves target the weakest links in payment systems - typically businesses that accept electronic payments from their customers.
The average amount of money lost to fraud via electronic payments in the US was $3,257 per customer in 2006, compared to $1,408 the previous year, according to Gartner.
Consumers also managed to recover less of the money stolen - an average of 61 per cent in 2006 compared to 87 per cent the previous year.
The research is based on an online survey of 5,000 people during August 2006.
Comments
There is 1 comment. Join the discussion
1. Yogesh Raja
Banks should be liable for losses due to fraud because of knowing that ID KEY system proposed on website www.xwave.co.uk since 1994 would have deterred fraud by making signature and PIN number system at ATMs reliable to deter fraud.
*Why would anyone get tempted to misuse our personal details when they know that in the event of crime their personalised signature would expose their identity?
*Why would anyone get tempted to use stolen or skimmed cards when they know that Card Key Code stored on ID KEY would be required to activate ATM transaction?
It is so obvious that if banks ignore to make signature and PIN number systems they make us use reliable than losses caused by their current unreliable systems should be their responsibility.