Chip technology expected to lower fraud rates over time

A survey commissioned by ACI Worldwide has found that more than 15 percent of Australian credit and debit cardholders have been victims of bank card fraud in the past five years.

ACI Worldwide, a provider of application software for electronic payments, surveyed 2409 people globally, of which 310 responded from Australia.

Respondents were asked, "Have you been a victim of fraud on your credit or debit card in the past five years?"

Around one in ten Australian respondents said they had faced card fraud once, 2.58 percent were unlucky enough to lose funds twice, while 1.29 percent claimed to have been a victim three times and 0.64 percent on more than three occasions.

The Australian results, while startling, are comparatively low compared to the United States and United Kingdom.

In the US and UK, 27 percent of respondents had been hit by card fraud in the past five years, compared to seven percent in Dubai, eight percent in Germany and 15 percent in China and Singapore.

The survey predicted Australia "should see a further decrease in the next three years as most of the cardholder base moves to chip authentication."

From January 1, 2008 to December 31, 2008, $144.7 million in credit and charge card fraud had been perpetrated in Australia and overseas on Australian-issued cards, according to The Australian Payments Clearing Association (APCA).

According to the APCA, incidence of credit card fraud rose from 18.6 for every 100,000 transactions in 2007 to 21.8 per 100,000 transactions in 2008. The incidence of debit card fraud dropped from 2.3 in 2007 to 1.7 in 2008 (again, for every 100,000 transactions.)

"The international research we have conducted shows that although card fraud trends vary around the world, it is still a persistent problem for banks," said ACI Worldwide vice president David Nussenbaum.