September 23, 2008 by Gill Montia

Story link: Cardholders flock to secure online payment methods

UK payment services association, Apacs, has reported a major increase in the volume of credit and debit card holders taking advantage of measures that can prevent online shopping fraud.

According to Apacs, over 25 million cards are now registered with secure online payment systems, Verified by Visa and MasterCard SecureCode. Cardholder registration in August was up 150% over the year and had increased by nearly 600% on August 2006. The process of signing up is simple and can be completed on the websites of card providers.

The schemes offer enhanced protection against the unauthorised use of a card and provide state of the art online security without the need for additional software.

Online shopping card fraud was estimated at £223.8 million in 2007, when it formed around 77% of total card-not-present fraud losses in the UK. Last year’s figure was up from 45% from 2006, when Internet fraud losses stood at £154.5 million and accounted for 73% of total card-not-present fraud losses.