Credit card fraud 'ten times more likely online'

NEWS Online retailers are ten times more likely to be victims of a credit card fraud than their bricks and mortar counterparts. According to a study by Gartner Group, stolen credit cards were used in 1.2 per cent of all online sales in 1999, whereas the corresponding figure in the traditional retail arena is between 0.06 per cent and 0.09 per cent. This figure is also expected to grow as online retail sales increase. Cybercriminals focus predominantly on computer hardware, software, electronic goods and entertainment sites. The villains are mainly fraudulent card users rather than hackers and these crooks have often obtained credit card details from a careless user or through an organised crime operation.