Revealed: Britain's card fraud capital!

Robert Powell takes a look at Britain's card fraud hotspots and finds out how you can avoid becoming a victim of this increasingly common crime...

Brighton is famous for many things – its pier, rock and clumsy Labour party leaders to name just three. But one thing you probably wouldn’t associate with the south coast sea-side resort is card fraud.

Yet if this year’s Card Fraud Index from CPP is to be believed, it is the capital of card fraud in Britain.

Let’s take a closer look at the figures...

Worst 10 cities for card fraud

As we reported last year in The 10 biggest fraud hotspots in Britain, Cardiff was the city most prone to card fraud throughout 2009, with 37% of people affected at least once. But Welsh fraudsters have either cleaned up their act in 2010 or moved to Brighton; because Cardiff is now only the 13th worst place for card fraud in Britain.

Previously in tenth place last year, it’s now Brighton that tops the list of fraud hotspots. 38% of people have been defrauded in the city within the last 12 months – that’s up from just 23% last year.

Here’s a table showing the worst ten cities for card fraud in 2010:

Rank	City	Percentage of people defrauded at least once in 2010
1	Brighton	38%
2	London	34%
3	Manchester	33%
4 =	Leeds	32%
4 =	Bristol	32%
6	Edinburgh	31%
7	Southampton	29%
8	Norwich	28%
9	Birmingham	27%
10	Liverpool	25%

Source: CPP

As you would expect, a majority of the top ten are made up of large cities. Strangely enough, Brighton is one of the smallest cities on the list.

CPP also estimates that 28% of adults in the UK have now been affected by card fraud in their lifetime – that’s a total of 13 million people. But scarily, a third of these victims don’t even know how they were defrauded, with 34% only finding out about the theft after their bank informed them.

So what are the most common types of card fraud?

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Common types of fraud

According to CPP, around one in five card crime victims were defrauded online in 2010, with criminals using phishing scams, tab napping and fake websites to obtain card details.

You can read more about online card fraud and how to protect yourself against it by heading to New online threat that will wreck your Christmas.

CPP also estimates that 20% of fraud victims had the magnetic stripe on their card cloned at an ATM or via a chip and PIN machine – a 3% increase on 2009. This is hardly surprising since, as I reported in Cyber-crooks are stealing your personal secrets, fraudsters can now get their hands on a card cloner for a little as £125.

What’s more, almost one in five people don’t shield their PIN when they’re withdrawing cash at an ATM or using a chip and PIN device. By doing this you’re seriously exposing yourself to a fraudster who may have fitted the ATM with a tiny camera in an attempt to film you keying in your PIN. Put this footage together with a copy of your card and you could see thousands disappearing from your bank account overnight.

But this isn’t the only reason why you should always shield your hand when keying in your PIN...

PIN peekers!

New research from MyVoucherCodes.co.uk shows that 42% of people have looked over the shoulder of another shopper to sneak a look at their PIN. Of these PIN peekers, 61% said they did so because they were ‘just being nosy’, while 11% claimed it was an accident!

The MyVoucherCodes.co.uk stats also show that 51% of people would look at a mini-statement if it was left at an ATM by a previous user and 67% said they would pinch up to £50 from a cash point if another person had left it there! The respondents were even nosier when it came to pay grades – with 71% saying they definitely would look at a colleagues wage slip to find out how much they earn.

These figures may just prove that we really are a nation of nosy Brits – but it also shows how lax a lot of us are when it comes to card security. So here are some tips to make sure you don’t get stung by card fraud.

ATM safety

Avoid PIN peekers and ATM cameras by always shielding your hand when you input your PIN. You should also always check the ATM for any evidence of tampering and keep your wits about you for anyone acting suspiciously nearby.

Checking your credit report and bank statements

Ensuring you regularly check your credit report and bank statements will also help protect against card fraud. Look out for any suspicious behaviour such as attempts to open credit cards, large cash withdrawals, phantom purchases or any overdraft breaches and inform your bank immediately if you suspect anything.

The sooner you notify your bank the more likely it is that your claim will be processed quickly and you’ll get your compensation. You can check your credit report for free right now using Experian’s credit checker – just make sure to cancel before the 30 days' free trial runs out!

Keep a sensible wallet!

This is just common sense really! Avoid keeping cards in your wallet that you don’t need and never ever keep a record of your PINs in the same place as your cards. In fact, keeping any details of your bank accounts, PINs or credit cards is always risky – so make sure you shred any bank statements that you don’t need.

Stay alert while online

As I mentioned earlier there are now hoards of cyber-crooks also vying for your card details, so ensuring you stay vigilant when surfing the web is essential.

There are loads of top tips on staying safe when online in Eight ways to spot a phishing scam and New online threat that will wreck your Christmas.

What would you do?

How do you protect yourself from card fraud? Have you ever been stung by a crooked card fraudster? Do you occasionally sneak a peek at a strangers PIN number when out shopping?

Let us know in the comment box below.

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