UK - London has Highest Concentration of Online Fraud

Recent statistics from Early Warning for CNP or Cardholder Not Present fraud indicate that Greater London suffered the maximum number of fraudulent transactions in 2006 with Manchester and Kilmarnock following next.

Research by Early Warning suggests that there was a 38% increase in credit card fraud on the Internet during the past twelve months. The reason attributed to this is the introduction of chip and PIN that has driven fraudsters to newer avenues for cyber-crime such as the online shopping and auction sites. Early Warning's data further suggest that the area with postcode SE18 covering Thamesmead could be considered as the card fraud capital of Europe.

Although Greater London surpasses the remaining parts of UK in fraud involving credit cards, the threat is particularly vibrant in some of the postcode areas in London. For instance, Thamesmead's streets often report of CNP fraud cases.

Beyond London, there are increasing CNP fraud crimes in Northampton, Bournemouth, Stockport and Portsmouth. All of these areas seem to be tending to the top ten by 2008. Other places having CNP crime include Illford and Romford in Essex, and Twickenham in the suburb.

The least number of CNP crimes is in Wales (excluding Cardiff), the north of Scotland and the West County.

According to Andrew Goodwill, MD of Early Warning, since fraudulent purchases is so high in many suburbs, it wasn't surprising to find London on top of the list of The Fraudsters' League once again. More notable is to find those postcodes across the country that registered almost negligible fraud in 2006 were now having medium or high fraud levels. This shows that no place is exempt. Sourcewire reported this on September 5, 2007.

With the growth in Internet shopping and trading, the scope for CNP fraud also increases. Chip and PIN has taken fraudsters to operate on the Web. Here, it is easy to plot crime as the criminals can do it from abroad as well. It is worth noting that traders' expected cost of 200 Million pounds in 2007 means loss of about 40 Million pounds to the economy of United Kingdom.

Related article: US Passes Baton to Asia in Spam Relay

» SPAMfighter News - 9/18/2007