Pace of Fraudsters Moving Online and Away From Counterfeit Schemes Accelerating

Fraudsters are increasingly switching over to online, mail-order and telephone-order fraud over counterfeit fraud, according to data released today by analytic and decision management solutions provider FICO. The data was collected by FICO from January 2010 to September 2011 and found that card fraud cases where the card was not present increased twice as fast fraud cases where a counterfeit card was swiped. The data, FICO said, was collected from the FICO Falcon Fraud Manager Consortium.

Although there was more fraud vie the internet, mail and telephone, FICO also noted in s statement released today that counterfeit fraud also has higher average loss for each compromised account. FICO also noted in the statement that the introduction of EMV cards in the U.S. should cut down significantly on counterfeit card fraud cases. The solutions provider said that, according to data it released in January, European credit cards showed a 60 percent drop in counterfeit fraud, which it credited to the adoption of EMV.

FICO also mentioned that it saw a 15 percent increase in debit card authorization volume, with an accompanying increase ATM skimming scams where a criminal installs a device at an ATM that collects card and PIN numbers. Similar scams were seen at grocery stores and gas stations.

FICO said that the top merchant categories for credit card far were grocery stores, restaurants and online retailers. But overall fraud was down, as FICO said only 1 percent of the 2.5 billion cards protected by its fraud manager were affected by fraud.

[See Related: Cyber Fraud Is Going Global, FBI Sting Reveals]

Jonathan Camhi has been an associate editor with Bank Systems & Technology since 2012. He previously worked as a freelance journalist in New York City covering politics, health and immigration, and has a master's degree from the City University of New York's Graduate School ... View Full Bio