Payments Fraud on the Rise

Scammers are having a field day. According to the Australian Payments Clearing Association (APCA), payment scammers may have raked in as much as $77.5 million last year.

This is on top of the fraudulent transactions that cost Australia as much as $278.3 million last year. The amount is significantly higher compared to 2010 at $184 million.

The fraud stemmed from weak links in the debit, charge and credit card transactions.

According to the Australian Payments Clearing Association, the highest fraud incidence involved ‘card-not-present’ transactions. These include online, mail and phone transactions. Some retailers also allow transactions even if card is not presented.

Fraud involving ‘card-not-presented’ transactions jumped from $131.4 million to $197.5 million.

According to Chris Hamilton, there should be tools to help protect retailers from payment fraud and that retailers undergo online training. Hamilton is chief executive of the association. The industry also needs to implement tougher authentication tools.

In a statement, Hamilton said cardholders and retailers should be careful in handling transactions. Once the tools are in place and stakeholders get the hang of it, APCA expects to see fraud rates decrease significantly.

Although the numbers may be alarming, it is also worth noting that fraud involving other types of transaction have gone down. Debit card frauds dropped from $21.1 million to $13.7 million. Cheque fraud also went down by half.

Consumers and retailers are advised to be vigilant and extra careful when doing transactions.