Nearly one in ten UK adults (9pc) say they have been defrauded via their debit or credit card in the last year; according to a poll of 2,000 UK adults commissioned by the comparison website Compare the Market. The most common form of fraud has been through online payments, with over a quarter (28pc) experiencing a hack of either card or account. About a quarter, 27pc, don’t know or can’t remember how they were hacked.
The research suggested that an average of £833.54 is taken with each instance of cyber-fraud, equating to £2 billion stolen from credit, debit or bank accounts in the last year alone. This figure represents a 38pc increase compared to the previous year’s figure of £600 – a rise of £233 on average per theft.
An interesting new area of concern is in pre-populated debit or credit card details that many people use to make online purchases, the comparison website adds. A third (31pc) of respondents’ credit or debit card details are saved using web browsing ‘auto-fill’, and over half (56pc) are concerned about its safety. Despite the fraud, few people have changed providers. Over three quarters (79pc) have not changed bank or credit card provider as a result of experiencing a cyber-attack and are not considering changing. This is in spite of the fact that 44pc had to alert their provider to suspicious activity, something most would expect their bank or credit card company to do on their behalf.
Shakila Hashmi, Head of Money at Compare the Money, says: “In the last two years, we have seen the average amount stolen from accounts soar from £475 in 2016 to £833 in 2018. This is an extremely worrying trend and suggests a significant rise in aggressive bank and credit card fraud. It is also worrying that so few people decide to take action by moving provider after an attack takes place. Whilst we do all have a responsibility to try keep our banking and card details secure, providers have a duty of care to ensure that their customers are as protected as possible. It is also vital that they jump on suspicious activity, something that our research suggests does not happen enough – according to our research, 44pc of people who had been hacked had to alert their credit card provider or bank about the incident.
“However, it is reassuring to see that some behaviour is changing as a result of fraud. People are more likely to check their bank and credit card accounts regularly, and to have different passwords and pins for their various accounts, and most now won’t give out their bank details over the phone. All of these measures need to be ramped up in order for people to lessen the chance of being hacked. However, if a provider has not spotted suspicious activity or has not dealt with a fraud to the best of their ability then it is vital that people vote with their feet and move to suppliers with a better client service rating.”
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Brett Beranek, Director of Product Strategy, Biometrics and Security, at speech recognition software firm Nuance Communications, said: “These figures demonstrate the need for increased security solutions. Whilst no solution is 100 per cent secure, Infiniti Research estimates that voice biometrics can address 90 per cent of fraud in a voice channel, as well as 80 per cent of fraud in a mobile channel. In real terms, one top five bank saw a 59 per cent decrease in account takeover within the first 30 days of deploying a biometric security solution, while a US bank prevented $6.2M in annual fraud loss.
“Biometrics provide a significant advantage in increasing the sophistication of authentication, without putting the onus on consumers. For example, voice biometric authentication leverages more than 100 unique speech characteristics: both physical attributes, like the size and shape of your nasal passage, and behavioural attributes that include accent, pronunciation, or even how fast you talk.
“Furthermore, the advantage for voice biometrics over other forms of authentication is that even if a hacker were to hack a database of voiceprints, that data can’t then be converted into sound that can be used to hack accounts – immediately reducing its monetary value on the dark web. And even if they could steal a recording of the voice, playback detection technology can test incoming audio to see if it represents live speech or if it is fraudulent.”
