back to article UK tops European charts ... for carder fraud

The United Kingdom has copped the largest jump in credit card fraud of all European countries with an 18 per cent rise resulting in £88m ($114m, A$150m) of additional losses. Blighty outpaced fraud growth in Greece and Denmark where fraud increased by five percent according to Euromonitor International data mapped out by big …

  1. lglethal Silver badge
    WTF?

    Wait what?

    There are still sites that do transactions without CVC? And people use them??!?!?!?!

    The stupidity of the "average" person never fails to shock me...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Wait what?

      So you go through your shopping and get all that you need. Then on the final screen, you don't get asked for the CVC. What then eh? do you stop and leave that site never to return or do you shrug your shoulders and complete the transaction.

      Please tell us what you do. I'm sure we'd love to know. Have you ever completed a transaction and not used the CVC?

      As for me, it depends. If the site is one that I have used before then I may well complete the deal. For those sites that might (cough-cough) be a tad dodgy, I use a prepaid CC.

      1. find users who cut cat tail

        Re: Wait what?

        > Please tell us what you do.

        Choose the cash on delivery payment option (which fortunately seems to be relatively common around here).

      2. lglethal Silver badge
        Meh

        Re: Wait what?

        Maybe its because I'm in Europe, but yes I would (and have) backed out of transactions if a site wants me to complete a purchase without a CVC.

        I expect any site that wants my custom to implement at least THAT minimum level of security. I will pay extra for it if I have to (by going to another site).

        Your mileage may vary, but I've still never been defrauded online, and maybe that's been responsible or maybe I've just been lucky. But I don't think I'll be changing my habits anytime soon. If your happy to shop without at least CVC being used as security, all well and good I guess, but I hope were not with the same bank...

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Wait what?

          You are not understanding the issue - the cvv does not protect you it protects the merchant that he/she has collected sufficient information to prove you are who you say you are.

          Entering the CVV or not does not do anything to reduce the possibility of YOU being defrauded.

          Infact it's possible the reverse is true - that if you are entering cvv details on a site that is fraudulent or is hacked then the fraudulent subsequent use of your card will be harder to claim back.

          So your trust of sites that ask for CVV info making you 'feel' more secure is infact misguided.

          To re-iterate That you have not been defrauded has NOTHING to do with you trusting sites that ask for CVV.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Wait what?

      Haha, you think CVC2 is for your security.

      It's to shield the merchant from liability of charge-backs for "card not present" transactions.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Wait what?

      We don't ask for cvv. Our fraud rates are so low compared to our typo rates that it works out much better not to.

  2. Roq D. Kasba

    What's the Brexit angle?

    We really need a new icon for it, 'cos I don't see one beyond some other European countries being listed.

    1. Dr_N

      Re: What's the Brexit angle?

      Any and all ****-ups in the UK during the past 30 years are down to EU membership.

      Didn't you get the memo?

      1. Rich 11

        Re: What's the Brexit angle?

        Does that include the fuck-up of voting to leave the EU?

    2. Jason Bloomberg Silver badge

      Re: What's the Brexit angle?

      It does seem to be typical tosh that being a member of the EU is the cause of a problem and leaving will somehow make things better without offering any evidence of either.

    3. Lars Silver badge
      Coat

      Re: What's the Brexit angle?

      Clickbait !

    4. YARR
      Trollface

      Re: What's the Brexit angle?

      .. there is none.

      ElReg must enjoy trolling their readership.

    5. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: What's the Brexit angle?

      I propose that the Brexit icon be a dog's brexit.... sorry, dog's breakfast.

      Mainly because that's what it is.

      Preferably with a dinky little Union Jack sticking out and a passport for "The United Kingdom of Little England and Its Electorally Insignificant Provincial Chums" in the middle of this pile of slop.

      The really, *really* important thing is that the passport be blue and not maroon, because that's What "We" Were Fighting For and completely justifies the utter f****** mess.

  3. Epic

    This is hardly a surprise given that credit card use and acceptance is far lower in many European countries than it is in the UK. In places like Germany and Netherlands people use bank debit cards and online payment far more than credit cards.

    1. H in The Hague

      "In places like Germany and Netherlands people use bank debit cards and online payment ..."

      Note for UK readers: if you pay for a web site order in NL, you don't give your debit card details to that web site. Instead they'll use the Ideal system supported by all banks to forward the transaction to your own bank's e-banking site and you then approve the payment using the bank's regular authorisation system (often an electronic calculator-like token which uses your card + PIN, or a one-time code texted to your registered mobile phone). Seems to work very well.

    2. FrogsAndChips Silver badge

      The first line of the article is misleading, the report just mentions "card fraud", not specifically credit card. In the UK, cards are mostly credit cards, whereas in other european countries they will mostly be bank debit cards, but the security protocols (chip, PIN, CVV/CVC) and fraud techniques will be the same.

  4. Buzzword

    How do they get away with it?

    So you've got a stash of valid card numbers, and let's assume you also stole the associated postcodes and CCV numbers. What large transaction can you do online that isn't either (a) traceable via physical goods delivered to a drop address, or (b) reversible, e.g. buying e-money in various online communities?

    I can understand that you'd get away with topping up a £10 PAYG phone using a stolen card number; but can they do anything meaningful? Or are the police / banks just not bothered about chasing up (a) / (b) above?

    1. dajames
      Childcatcher

      Re: How do they get away with it?

      So you've got a stash of valid card numbers, and let's assume you also stole the associated postcodes and CCV numbers. What large transaction can you do online that isn't either (a) traceable via physical goods delivered to a drop address, or (b) reversible, e.g. buying e-money in various online communities?

      Online payment to a registered money-launderer?

      I believe that in practice one way that this has been achieved is by using the stolen card details to play high-stakes online gambling games and deliberately losing to an an accomplice (or so a Police fraud investigator once told me) -- makes it all look legit, as long the connection to one's accomplice is plausibly deniable.

      Don't try this at home, children!

    2. Version 1.0 Silver badge

      Re: How do they get away with it?

      On a visit to Australia some years ago I used the corporate credit card to pay for the hotel bill. After returning home we got the bill ... for about $10,000 - $2000 and some change for the hotel, and the rest for a drop shipment of computer gear to a package store in Indonesia.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: How do they get away with it?

      There are plenty of places where you can buy online, then go pick up the thing at a counter with a printout of the online receipt. Clerks there rarely bother to check more than that.

      I've also heard of people getting stuff delivered to a given address where they don't live, and they just hang out near the postbox on the delivery day to intercept the hurried deliveryman, who'll be only too happy not to have to climb up the stairs.

      In short, fraudsters find plenty of ways to have physical goods delivered untraceably.

      As for b), the transaction is only partially reversible. At some point, if the money has been converted to cash, *somebody* in the chain will have to bear the cost. Who exactly depends on how the transaction was conducted (with/without PIN, CVV, 3D Secure, etc.).

  5. Dan 55 Silver badge

    Australia by contrast is one of the world's toughest places to commit fraud thanks to its widespread adoption of the most modern and secure payment methods available such as Android and Apple Pay and contactless card payments.

    From an El Reg article (and comments) from about two weeks ago, it seems they're in the stone age.

  6. gryff

    Knowlege of the payments industry would help.

    You can skip non CVV / 3D Secure sites as much as you like, that won't stop someone commiting fraudulent transactions with your card details. The third party fraud is independant of your card usage.

    Yes, CVV/CVC, cip+pin and 3D Secure are all about liability shift. Previously the banks were liable for fraud, now the assumption is if fraud happened, it's your fault. If you read the fine print very carefully you can figure this out. If you are a merchant, you'll want to watch for liability shift towards you, and away from you, to see who is currently liable. If you're liable, then a shift away from CVV, chip+pin, 3D Secure probably just occured at your payments processor, or worse your traffic has been directed to a different processor.

    Suggesting in the headline that Brexit will change any of this, just shows a lack of knowledge of the payments industry. The EU has fsck -all to do with how Mastercard, VISA etc. set-up and run their card schemes, and how transactions are processed. The two largest contributions to the payments industry out of Brussels? The IBAN, and a competition case against Mastercard regarding fees and pricing.

    Best thing you can do to avoid fraud? When travelling overseas, pay only your hotel bill + hire car with a card, use cash for everything else. Best cash machine to use? At the airport when you arrive, especially if its inside luggage claim areas - less chance of it being fitted with a skimmer. Those two precautions reduce your risks appreciably.

  7. KeithR

    To Darren Pauli

    Keep your bullshit anti EU agenda to your fucking self.

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