As figures show a rise in fraud due to stolen cards, Vicky Shaw looks at how you can protect your plastic

LAST year, a staggering £450.4m was lost on UKissued bank cards from frauds such as identity theft, cloned cards and internet fraud.

It marks a 16 per cent increase on overall card fraud from the previous year but, if you think this rise is simply because tricksters’ attempting to steal your money are moving with the high-tech times, think again.

According to figures recently released by Financial Fraud Action UK (FFA UK), the name under which the financial services industry coordinates crime prevention, fraud simply from cards being stolen cost us £58.9m last year, the highest level since 2006.

FFA UK says the use of better fraud detection systems and secure card technology such as chip and pin is forcing criminals to swap tactics and go more low-tech, often with conmen posing over the phone as an official from the bank or the police.

That is not to say we should not also be vigilant when sorting out our finances online – online banking fraud losses also rose by three per cent year-on-year, reaching £40.9m last year.

While better detection systems developed by banks and established internet retailers are helping to improve these figures, the losses are said to have been driven up by criminals targeting individuals and smaller firms.

Fraudsters are also increasingly turning to digital attacks to compromise card details.

For example, Malware is malicious software, unknowingly downloaded onto someone’s computer, which enables criminals to steal financial information or perform unauthorised actions on your computer.

It is believed that fraudsters are then using these stolen details to steal by targeting less experienced online retailers.

So, what steps can you take to avoid becoming a fraud victim?

Here is a checklist:

  • Give your handbag a spring clearout. Are you walking around with old payslips, bank or credit card statements, utility bills, longforgotten scraps of paper with important passwords or personal information noted down, or even your driving licence sitting gathering dust at the bottom of your handbag? These can be put together like a jigsaw by someone else to build a profile of you, which could then be used to commit identity fraud;
  • If you are moving house, make sure you have made arrangements for your mail to be re-directed so important documents do not end up in the wrong hands;
  • Be aware. Your bank or the police will never phone, email or visit you to ask for your card Pin or to pick up your card. Never hand your card over to anyone who says they have come to collect it;
  • Make sure you are the only person who knows the Pin number for your card;
  • Be suspicious of unsolicited emails which say they are from your bank or the taxman and do not click on any links in the email;
  • Only do your internet shopping on secure websites. Before keying in your card details, be sure the locked padlock or unbroken key symbol is showing in your browser;
  • Install up-to-date security software on your computer, including anti-virus. Some banks offer free security software;
  • It may not be the most exciting task in the world, but make sure you regularly sift through your bank and card statements for unusual transactions. If you spot anything odd, let your bank or card company know straight away;
  • Shield your Pin with your free hand whenever you type it into a keypad in a shop or at a cash machine;
  • Rip up or shred statements, receipts and documents that contain information about your financial affairs when you throw them away. If you go online a lot for your banking, you may even want to consider going paperless with your bank statements to save all the bother of tearing them up when you’ve finished with them;
  • Many people still find using cheques useful. When writing a cheque, make sure you draw a line through all the unused space on the payee line and the amount line to help prevent the cheque being fraudulently altered.