The European Central Bank (ECB) has published its latest card fraud report, revealing a continued downward trend in card fraud based on information provided by 20 card payment scheme operators.
Card fraud in 2021 continued its downward trend, falling to its lowest level since data collection began. According to the report, it constituted 0.028% of the total value of card payments made using cards issued in the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), amounting to €1.53 billion from a total value of €5.40 trillion.
By comparison, card fraud in 2020 amounted to €1.87 billion from a total value of €5.16 trillion. The highest share of card fraud was in 2008.
Source: European Central Bank
There are two distinct types of card fraud. Card-not-present fraud can be conducted remotely in online and telephone payments or by using card details obtained from scams such as phishing. Card-present fraud typically occurs at retail outlets and ATMs and involves the use of counterfeit cards.
Card-not-present fraud, which accounted for approximately 84% of the total value of card fraud in 2021, declined by 12% from 2020 levels while card-present fraud fell by 6%. As in previous reports, most of the card fraud in both years involved cross-border transactions although this only accounted for 11% of the total value of card payment transactions.
The ECB said it is closely monitoring trends in card fraud in its capacity as overseer of card payment schemes operating in the euro area. Fraud data for 2022 is currently being collected.
