§ Mr. RandallTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what guidance he gives to credit card issuers on reporting credit card fraud; [18999]
(2) what estimate he has made of the level of under-reporting of credit card fraud in each of the last five years; [18996]
(3) what estimate he has made of credit card fraud in each of the last five years (a) by level and (b) by number of incidents. [18998]
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§ Mr. DenhamNo Home Office guidance is given to credit card issuers on reporting credit card fraud. However, I understand that the Association of Chief Police Officers' National Working Party on Cheque and Card Fraud has agreed guidelines on reporting cheque and payment card fraud to the police to encourage best practice in combating credit card fraud.
No estimates of the level of under reporting of credit card fraud have been made by the Government. However, a National Economic Research Associates Report commissioned by the Home Office recognised under reporting of all frauds.
Information on the number of offences of cheque and credit card fraud recorded by the police is available for the last two financial years only, as follows:
Year Number 1999–2000 173,857 2000–01 148,252 The Association of Payment Clearing Services has estimated the cost of reported losses due to credit card fraud over the last four yeard as:
Year £million 1997 122.0 1998 135.0 1999 188.4 2000 292.6 Source:
APACS Fraud in Focus 2001