Bank card fraud continues to grow

THE NUMBER of fraud cases involving French bank cards has risen for the second year running, with online fraud on French sites up almost a quarter, new figures reveal.

The Observatoire de la Sécurité des Cartes de Paiement said card fraud had returned to a level not seen since 2004 after a number of years of improved security.

Illegal transactions cost consumers and banks €342.4m last year, up from €320.2m in 2008.

The fraud represents a small percentage of all card transactions in France - 0.072% - however this percentage has risen over two years from its lowest level of 0.062% in 2007.

Illegal transactions in shops or at cashpoints continued to decline, costing €41m last year. However online fraud by French sites grew by 22%, from €67.2m to €82.2m.

Online transactions make up 7% of all the card payments in France - but 57% of the reported frauds last year, including overseas sites.

The OSCP said there was a clear public demand for better systems for authenticating payments.