Annual Report on Payment Cards’ Security

• This year’s Observatoire de la sécurité des cartes de paiement, released on 2nd July, highlights an overall fraud rate of 0.077% for 2011, up to 413.2 million euros (compared to 0.074% and 368.9 million euros in 2010).

• The report pinpoints the increase of distant selling (CNP) fraud in France (0.321%), and, above all, of online fraud (0.341%). It also reminds that these contexts accounting for 8.4% of all national transaction value, have originated 61% of the overall fraud amount.

• Face-to-face payments have also been affected (0.015%, vs. 0.012% in 2010) as well as ATM cash withdrawals (0.029%).

• Just as well, it insists on the number of ATM attacks, increasing 18% in 2011 (+677% since 2004). However, it does not mention any attack against gas station automatons (DAC) for 2011.

• According to law enforcement forces, the number of card fraud-related arrests (234) remains stable compared to 2010.

Source: Observatoire de la sécurité des cartes de paiement – 2011 report

• These same figures indicate that in 2011, 85.8 million cards were in circulation in France (including 64.7 million “interbank” cards and 21.0 million private-label ones).

• France is not the only country witnessing such surges in fraud figures. In the Middle East, for instance, a study conducted by Paladion Networks reveals that one third of the attacks spotted in 2011 targeted ATMs and online banking.

• Yet another acknowledgement, in Norway the number of skimming and cash-trapping attacks has also increased. ATM compromising reaches record levels, with for example, 40 ATM scams noted in Oslo during the first half of July.