Credit card fraud, the criminal use of a credit card, costs businesses millions of dollars each year, so actively working on credit card fraud prevention is well worth it.
When we think of credit card fraud, we tend to think of criminals stealing people’s credit cards and then using them to steal merchandise. A fair amount of credit card fraud still happens this way (23% of all credit card fraud losses, according to the RCMP), but the majority of credit card fraud results from counterfeit card use (37% of all dollar losses). Organized criminals, say the RCMP, have acquired the technology that allows them to "skim" the data contained on magnetic stripes, manufacture phony cards, and overcome such protective features as holograms.
While no-card fraud (credit card fraud committed without the actual use of a credit card) currently accounts for only 10% of credit card fraud losses, it’s my belief that this figure will grow because of the increase of phishing scams (fraudulent e-mails and websites designed to deceive recipients into revealing credit card numbers and other personal and financial information).
With proper credit card fraud prevention policies in place, businesses can do a great deal to reduce their credit card fraud losses. For more on credit card fraud prevention, see Steps to Prevent Credit Card Fraud.
