This Sunday 1 April 2007, new procedures come into effect in England,
Wales and Northern Ireland which means that banks and financial
institutions become the first point of contact for cheque, plastic card
and online fraud offences. In most cases consumers will be required to
report instances of this type of fraud straight to their bank or
building society and not to the police. It will be up to the financial
institution involved, and not the account holder, to pass details of the
relevant crime on to the police.
This change in the way fraud is reported has come about after the
introduction of the Fraud Act 2006 and follows discussions between the
Home Office, Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and the
financial sector. The aim is to reduce the level of bureaucracy involved
in fraud recording and to streamline the reporting, recording and
investigation of such frauds.
APACS statistics show that there were just over 700,000 cases of card
fraud in 2006, with the average loss per case amounting to GBP608. One of
the advantages for consumers unfortunate enough to be a victim of these
types of fraud from 1 April onwards is that they will only have to
report the details to their bank or the financial organisation involved.
Previously they would have reported the matter first to their bank, then
to the police, and then back to their bank to pass on relevant details
given to them by the police.
Sandra Quinn, director of communications at APACS, says:
“This change simply removes an additional level of reporting and will
provide greater consistency for the reporting of fraud losses in the UK.
APACS will provide the Home Office with the industry’s fraud figures for
cheque, plastic and online banking fraud losses – these losses will then
be published as part of the government’s annual crime figures, thereby
giving a more realistic picture of the scale of this type of crime.”
Where an additional crime has been committed with the fraud, for
example, the victim has had their wallet stolen or the card used
fraudulently was stolen as a result of a burglary, then this should
still be reported to the police. Fraud other than card, cheque and
online banking fraud will be dealt with by the police in the same way as
it is currently, using the Fraud Act legislation that came into force on
15 January this year.
Earlier this month, APACS released its full UK card fraud figures for
2006 showing that total losses have fallen by three per cent in the past
year to GBP428.0 million – a decrease of GBP80 million over the past two
years. Cheque fraud losses fell by 24% from GBP40.3 million in 2005 to
GBP30.6 million in 2006. However, online banking fraud losses increased by
44%, up from GBP23.2 million in 2005 to GBP33.5 million last year.
Sandra Quinn continues:
“The threat of fraud is, unfortunately, a part of our daily lives.
Although card fraud losses have decreased for the past two years, the
industry remains committed to a multi-layered approach to tackling card
fraud.
“Part of this approach is educating consumers on what they can do to
protect themselves from being a victim. APACS has produced a Personal
Security Plan to offer advice and guidance on this topic. By following
some common sense precautions (as detailed in the Personal Security
Plan) people can significantly minimise their chances of becoming a
victim.”
The Personal Security Plan includes advice on preventing card fraud,
online fraud, cheque fraud and cash machine fraud. Copies can be
downloaded free-of-charge from www.apacs.org.uk and www.cardwatch.org.uk
The payments industry continues to commit and invest funds in programmes
and initiatives to fight fraud. Over the past five years, the industry has:
Invested GBP1.1 billion in the rollout of chip and PIN
Established the Dedicated Cheque and Plastic Crime Unit (DCPCU) – the
special police unit that specifically tackles plastic card and cheque
fraud – a funding commitment of GBP3m per year by the banking industry
Promoted retailer take-up of the Industry Hot Card File (IHCF) – an
electronic database that enables retailers to check whether a card is
being used fraudulently. Over 335,000 cases of attempted fraud were
prevented by this system in 2006.
