Indian link traced in UK credit card fraud

International credit card scamsters, including those based in India, siphoned off a significant portion of 535 million pounds from British account holders during last year, according to figures released in London on Wednesday.

The Association of Payment Clearing Services said that the 25 per cent initial rise in fraudulent use of British credit and debit cards in three years was mainly due to stolen and counterfeit cards used abroad.

Card fraud overseas rose by 77 per cent last year to 208 million, 39 per cent of the total.

There have been several instances of British consumers reporting money withdrawn from their accounts in India, The Philippines, Australia and Canada.

In February, hundreds of car owners in Lincolnshire in the east Midlands became victims of the scam after they filled fuel from a petrol station in the county.

It was the latest in a series of credit card scams across Britain in which card details are recorded by hidden cameras while making payment for fuel at petrol stations and then sent across to foreign locations where they are used to withdraw money.

As a safety measure, British banks have introduced a 'chip and pin' system for transactions in shops using credit and debit cards. This means that for every purchase, apart from the card, the customer also needs to punch in an exclusive pin number.

Signing for purchases using cards has been virtually phased out to prevent frauds.

The absence of the chip-and-pin technology in some foreign countries has made the use of skimmed or cloned cards abroad relatively more attractive to criminals, APCS said.

"Although card fraud levels have now begun to go up again due to fraud abroad and card-not-present fraud losses, chip-and-pin has proven to be an undoubted success in reducing card fraud on the UK high street," said Sandra Quinn of APACS.

"And, as more countries follow our lead and upgrade to chip-and-pin, the opportunities for criminals to use our stolen magnetic stripe details overseas will decrease," she added.