News

Report: Cross-border, CNP fraud now dominate in Europe

A low overall rise of 6 percent across 19 European nations masks large shifts in cross-border fraud, FICO says.

July 22, 2015

Card fraud losses across 19 countries in Europe rose an average of 6 percent in 2014, according to a new report from FICO based on data from Euromonitor International. In a press release, FICO said that a low overall rise masks large shifts in cross-border fraud, in which criminals use data on cards from one country to carry out fraudulent transactions in another country.

view larger

U.K. card fraud losses rose by 29 million pounds ($45 million) in 2014, a 6 percent rise year over year. Most of this increase was due to cross-border fraud, with domestic losses remaining flat.

In a June press release, FICO reported that cross-border fraud on U.K. debit cards increased 25 percent in 2014 compared to 2013. Nearly half (47 percent) of these took place in the U.S. — a pattern that seems related to the delay in U.S. adoption of EMV technology, the company said.

As reported for the last three years, the leading type of fraudulent card transaction in Europe is card-not-present fraud. The percentage of fraud losses from CNP fraud averaged 41 percent in western Europe and 23 percent in eastern Europe.

In the U.K., e-commerce spending more than doubled between 2008 and 2014, but CNP fraud losses grew just 1 percent in that time. However, CNP fraud has increased its share of U.K. card losses from 54 percent of in 2008 to 70 percent in 2014.

France had the highest card fraud losses relative to card sales, followed by Greece and the U.K. Russia saw the fastest growth in card fraud losses – 24 percent — but card sales in the same period grew 36 percent.

Download the report.