FFA UK’s latest industry statistics show financial fraud losses totalling colossal £768.8 million in 2016
Financial fraud losses across payment cards, remote banking and cheques totalled £768.8 million in 2016, the latest figures from Financial Fraud Action (FFA) UK highlight. This represents an increase of 2% on the previous year. The new data also outlines the fact that banks and card companies prevented £1.38 billion of fraud last year, which is equivalent to £6.40 in every £10 of attempted fraud being stopped.
Impersonation and deception scams – as well as online attacks aimed at compromising data – continued to be the primary drivers behind financial fraud losses in 2016. In all of these operational methods, criminals target personal and financial information (including card data) which is then used to facilitate fraud.
The full set of financial fraud data for 2016 produced by FFA UK shows the following headline observations:
• Losses due to payment card fraud were £618 million (representing an increase of 9% from £567.5 million in 2015). A total of £982.4 million of attempted card fraud was prevented by banks and card companies, which is equivalent to £6.10 in every £10 of fraud being stopped
• Across 2016, card spending increased by 6%, meaning that card fraud as a proportion of spending equates to 8.3 pence for every £100 spent
• Within the overall card fraud figures, losses on card purchases made remotely increased by 9% to reach a total of £432.3 million
• Remote banking fraud losses totalled £137.1 million, equating to a 19% decrease from £168.6 million in 2015. A total of £205.4 million of attempted remote banking fraud losses were prevented, which is equivalent to £6 in every £10 of fraud being stopped
• Cheque fraud losses fell by a total of 28% to £13.7 million (the lowest ever annual total). A total of £196.2 million of attempted cheque fraud was prevented. This is equivalent to £9.40 in every £10 of fraud being stopped
• A total of 1,857,506 cases of financial fraud were discovered across the year
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