U.S. Credit Card Fraud Stats Lead World

Credit card fraud statistics published in a respected industry newsletter place U.S. payment card fraud losses for 2010 at $3.56 billion, or almost half of the total global fraud losses reported. The article from The Nilson Report suggests several ways to improve secure credit card processing that could help cut those losses.

The newsletter also reports that while the U.S. accounts for 47 percent of global credit and debit card fraud, it generates only 27 percent of the total volume of purchases and cash. It offers two reasons for this disparity: U.S. banks have lagged behind their counterparts worldwide in adopting newer technologies such as EMV chip cards, and card issuers are reluctant to decline card authorizations from merchants because they don’t want to alienate their cardholders.

“Competition among U.S. issuers, which has resulted in the average cardholder having four credit cards in their wallet, makes any issuer reluctant to decline an authorization (because) the consumer will just pull out a competitor’s card,” elaborates David Robertson, publisher of The Nilson Report.

By comparison, global card fraud as a percentage of total volume declined in 2010, as it has for the past decade. Among the factors cited in the report that are driving down payment card fraud are the migration to EMV chip cards, the use of one-time passwords for card-not-present (CNP) transactions, widespread implementation of payment card industry data security standards, better risk scoring at the network level, consumer alerts in real time and better sharing of fraud management knowledge by all parties in the industry.

As a reputable merchant services provider, Merchant Express® takes secure credit card processing very seriously. One of the best ways to do so is reduce the risk of fraudulent transactions is to achieve and maintain PCI compliance. The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS) provide requirements for processing, storing and transmitting credit card data to keep it secure and private.

Additionally, Merchant Express offers a Data Breach Security Program that helps merchants meet the expenses resulting from a suspected or actual breach of payment card data. Features include a forensic audit as required by PCI DSS to confirm whether a breach has actually occurred and to pinpoint vulnerabilities in the system, industry fines and assessments met as required by PCI DSS in the event of an unintended breach and issuer-related expenses that cover card replacements costs, credit monitoring and other expenses related to a breach.

Merchant Express is committed to secure credit card processing, and you should be, too. Talk to one of our representatives to learn how to protect yourself, your business and your customers from becoming credit card fraud victims.