§ Mr. Stephen O'BrienTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what he estimates the annual cost of credit card fraud to be in the UK economy; [80735]
(2) what discussions his Department has had with credit card companies and the banking industry regarding credit card fraud. [80734]
§ Mr. DenhamThe Home Office does not compile estimates of the cost of credit card fraud and this information is not available from police recorded crime statistics.
In the publication, "2002: Fraud in Focus", the Association for Payment Clearing Services (APACS) estimated the losses from cheque, debit and credit or charge card fraud at £317 million in 2000 and £411.4 million in 2001. APACS recently estimated losses in the 12months to August 2002 at £429.4 million.
I met representatives of APACS in January 2002 to discuss the establishment of a joint national cheque and credit card fraud squad. The Dedicated Cheque and Plastic Card Unit came into existence in April 2002, with funding provided by both the private sector and the Government. Home Office officials hold quarterly meetings with representatives from APACS and the British Bankers Association (BBA) to monitor the Unit's progress.
In addition, Home Office officials hold regular discussions with key representatives from the credit card companies and the banking industry about credit card fraud and progress of the project to introduce microchips into payment cards to help their authentication and personal identification numbers (PINs) in place of signatures.