Is UK contactless card fraud overblown?

So, contactless card fraud hit £7 million (US$9 million or 8 million euros) in the U.K. in 2016, up from £153k in 2014. Cue click-bait headlines about fraud soaring by almost 4,500 percent. When you dig a bit deeper, this is both mischievous scaremongering and quite misleading.

Salacious spending spree

Firstly, the article explains how contactless card theft allows criminals to “go on a spending spree without knowing a PIN or any other card details.” In reality, any spending spree is limited to between one and three contactless transactions, under £30 (in the U.K.). After which the thief will be challenged to enter the card PIN, keeping contactless ‘spending sprees’ to a maximum of £90. Also, assuming you report the theft in a timely manner, your issuing bank will carry full liability for these fraudulent transactions and your money returned to you.

Data discrimination

On face value, a 4,500 percent increase in fraud sounds serious, however, without considering the rate of growth of contactless cards over the same period, the statistic is pretty meaningless. Google to the rescue…

Click to view all articles for the EPIC:
Or click to view the full company profile:
    Facebook
    Twitter
    LinkedIn
    Mi-Pay Group Plc

    More articles like this

    Mi-Pay Group Plc

    Mi-Pay Group deliver further growth in H1 2019

    Mi-Pay Group (LON:MPAY), a leading provider of digital transformation, mobile payment and payment fraud management solutions to Tier 1 Mobile Network Operators, Mobile Virtual Network Operators and digital content providers, has today presented its unaudited interim

    Mi-Pay Group Plc

    Mi-Pay 2018 a year of strong progress

    Mi-Pay (LON: MPAY), a leading provider of digital transformation and mobile payment solutions, is pleased to present its Final Results for the year ended 31 December 2018. Michael Dickerson, Executive Chairman of Mi-Pay Group plc commented

    Mi-Pay Group Plc

    Mi-Pay Group Plc Contract extension with its largest Client

    Mi-Pay Group Plc (LON: MPAY), the leading provider of outsourced digital transformation and mobile payment solutions, today announced that it has agreed terms on a contract extension with its largest Client for an incremental two-year period.

    Mi-Pay Group Plc

    Mi-Pay Fraud management contract and appointment of NED

    Michael Dickerson, Executive Chairman of Mi-Pay Group plc commented: “We are delighted to announce that we have secured our maiden contract for our fraud management services, a new vertical for us and a product offering that