LONDON - Over sixty percent Britons are vulnerable as far as their credit card accounts are concerned, consumer group Which? has warned.
In the latest report, the consumer watchdog found that almost a quarter of credit card users allot the same PIN number to all their cards, thus making it easier for fraudsters to hoodwink them. 19 percent of those surveyed admitted that they never check up on their bank or credit card statements for any discrepancies, while a fifth of them admitted that they would give out their account numbers over the telephone to any caller purported to be from their bank or credit card provider. The survey was conducted among 1,624 people.
Which? says that cardholders as well as banks need to take simple precautions to ensure that they do not fall a victim to credit card fraudsters. "By taking some basic precautions you can dramatically reduce your chances of becoming a victim of card fraud. But banks themselves are falling down on security too. They should be doing much more to cut this type of crime, rather than just passing the costs on to their customers," said Malcolm Coles, editor of Which?
Last year, credit card fraud was equivalent to £12 for every cardholder in the UK. The amount lost every year has jumped by a massive 600 percent over the last six years. Last year, the Which? survey had found that six percent of current account holders and five percent of credit card holders had been a victim of fraud at some point of time. The Association of Payment Clearing Services (APACS) says that UK card fraud hit over £500 million last year, a 20 percent rise from the figures in 2003.
Posted
on : Fri, 04 Nov 2005 20:10 GMT | Credit Cards News
By : Mike Lawson
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