That will never happen to me!
And then it does!
You get stuck in the elevator.
Or cross the road where you’re not supposed to…
Oh, well.
It could be anything.
How about credit card fraud?
The latest credit card fraud statistics will show that:
Card stealing is a huge problem. It concerns everyone, especially people aged between 30 and 50.
Here are some facts to show you the bigger picture:
Credit Card Fraud Statistics (Editor’s Choice):
- $28.5 billion was lost in 2020 due to credit card fraud.
- Almost one-quarter of all digital interactions in 2020 were attempted frauds.
- 393,000 Americans reported being a victim of credit card scams in 2020.
- Americans lose $331 on average from credit card fraud.
- Stolen card details sell for as little as $5 on the black market.
- Credit card issuers bear over 65% of fraud losses.
I get goosebumps just from reading this.
Wanna know more about card fraud? Are you interested in finding out how it can affect you?
Then keep on reading!
Bank Card Fraud: A Global Problem
We’ll kick off with some facts about the scale of the problem.
Hint – it’s bigger than you think.
1. In 2020, over $28.5 billion was lost worldwide due to payment card fraud.
(Source: Nilson Report)
This was down slightly from $28.65 billion in 2019.
The number is frightening, and the worst is apparently yet to come.
With more people embracing card payments, the risk of becoming a victim increases. But existing account fraud is just one of the problems.
Experts warn about a rise in new account fraud where criminals register new accounts with stolen personal data.
2. Gross losses from card fraud transactions are expected to exceed $49 billion by 2030.
(Source: Nilson Report)
Card fraud is expected to have cost the world $32.04 billion in 2021. That number is expected to grow considerably in the following years.
By 2027, gross losses from card fraud are set to reach $38.5 billion worldwide. That kind of money is enough to pay off Ecuador’s public debt.
And in 2030, when the total volume on all payment cards is projected to be $79.14 trillion, fraud losses would potentially reach $49.32 billion, equal to 6.23 cents per $100.
3. 35.8% of all card payment fraud losses occur in the US.
(Source: Nilson Report)
More than a third of all losses, or about $10.24 billion, occur in the United States. No other country in the world bears such huge losses due to credit card theft. This marks an increase from the 2019 figure of $9.62 billion. Back then, the US accounted for 33.58% of global fraud.
According to experts analyzing this trend, US fraud is higher due to the broader use of card-not-present (CNP) transactions. On the rise since the COVID-19 pandemic, these digital purchases lead to hefty losses. According to estimates, every $1 in CNP fraud costs $3.36 to merchants in the US.
4. Nearly 1 in 4 digital interactions in 2020 was a fraud attempt.
(Source: Arkose Labs)
According to recent research, 22.9% of all digital interactions in 2020 were fraud attempts.
Again, the data shows that most criminals target American cardholders more than any other nation in the world. Out of the 4.4 billion fraud attacks identified, more than 1.3 billion originated in the US.
What Is Credit Card Fraud Doing to Americans?
Let’s focus on the impact card fraud has on American consumers.
5. Out of every $100 spent with a bank card, $6.81 was stolen in 2020.
(Source: Nilson Report)
The 2020 figure is slightly higher than the prior year’s 6.78 cents per $100. And in the US, credit card fraud was 10.89 cents per $100 in 2020 and 10.25 cents in 2019.
The high frequency of payment card frauds is startling.
You may have never been a victim of credit card fraud, but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen in the future. Credit card fraud is widespread, and many cardholders have little awareness of the threats. They don’t know how to protect their cards, card details, devices, and personal information.
Don’t believe me?
6. In 2020, over 393,000 Americans reported being identity theft victims due to credit card scams.
(Source: Federal Trade Commission)
Credit card fraud was the second most popular type of identity theft in 2020. It accounted for 393,207 of the nearly 1.4 million reports of identity theft in 2020.
To protect yourself from this kind of theft, we recommend looking into an identity theft protection service.
7. New account credit card fraud grew 48% in just a year.
(Source: Federal Trade Commission)
Not only is creating new accounts with stolen data very popular, but it’s also growing at an alarming rate. In 2020, the number of newly created accounts using stolen data increased by 48%.
In contrast, abusing existing credit card accounts (such as ATM card fraud) grew by only 9%.
8. Americans lose $311 on average from credit card fraud.
(Source: Federal Trade Commission)
This is just the average figure. Some credit card fraud cases involve much heftier amounts.
You should keep in mind that over 190 million Americans have credit cards. The total amount of US credit card debt is now more than $1 trillion. So while the average amount stolen is not that big compared to other types of scams, there’s plenty to steal from!
9. The most common card fraud loss in 2020 was in the $1 to $1,000 range.
(Source: Federal Trade Commission)
The most commonly reported card fraud loss in 2020 was between $1 and $1,000, with 526,007 reports. Almost half of them were for losses in the $1 to $100 range.
The lowest number of reports was in the $8,000—$9,000 bracket (3,451). Yet losses exceeding $10,000 accounted for 39,734. That’s a significant share of the total number of reports.
10. Each attempted fraudulent purchase in 2020 is worth 70% more than in 2019.
(Source: Sift)
As internet traffic surged about 60% during the pandemic, money spent by online shoppers nearly doubled. Thus, the average value of attempted fraudulent purchases increased 69% year-over-year.
11. Stolen credit card details trade for as little as $5 on the black market.
(Source: Forbes)
Credit card fraud is on the rise, so the price of stolen data keeps getting lower.
According to credit card theft statistics, a single consumer’s stolen credit information card sells for around $5 to $150, depending on the amount of supplementary data included.
Here’s an example. In 2018, hackers stole the personal data of almost 244,000 British Airways customers and put it on sale on the dark web. The cybercriminals charged between $9 and $50 for a single record. Selling all 244,000 records means they walked away with over $12 million.
Crazy, right? This is certainly a frightening data breach instance.
12. People aged 30 to 39 suffered the most from credit card fraud in 2020.
(Source: Federal Trade Commission)
About 110,952 Americans from this age group reported being a victim, according to credit card fraud statistics.
With over 78,267 reported cases, people aged between 40 and 49 were the second biggest group.
On the other end of the spectrum, minors (aged 19 and under) and elderly people (over 80 years old) reported the least cases of fraud – 2,186 and 2,056, respectively. However, people aged 60 or older reported much higher median fraud losses than any other group in 2020.
13. In 2020, The Federal Trade Commission paid $483 million to credit card scam victims.
(Source: Federal Trade Commission)
This is one of the less popular credit card fraud facts, but it’s quite fascinating nonetheless.
FTC refunded more than $483 million to consumers across the US in 2020.
In one notable instance, a company called E.M. Systems & Services used various phony business names with associated websites, cold-called consumers with credit card debt, and falsely promised to save them thousands of dollars by reducing their credit card interest rates.
The scam victims paid up-front fees between $695 and $1,495. The company promised to provide refunds to consumers if they failed to reduce the interest rates. Of course, it didn’t.
So the FTC decided to refund people that lost money because of the fraudulent credit card rate reduction program. It sent refunds to over more than 11,000. The average refund per consumer was $995, totaling more than $11 million.
How nice of the FTC.
14. Credit cards were used as a payment method in over 91,000 frauds in 2020.
(Source: Federal Trade Commission)
Credit cards are the most popular means of fraudulent money transfers. In 2020, over 91,515 frauds included credit card payments. The amount of money lost was $149 million.
You’re probably dying to know how to find out who stole your credit card.
It’s actually not that difficult. Fraudulent payments can be traced back to scammers.
However, it seems fraudsters are not too concerned. They don’t mind transferring money to accounts they control.
Wire transfers, however, are an entirely different story. They are another popular payment method used in fraudulent activities. They are also harder to trace. In 2020, about $314 million was lost after wire transfer payments.
15. The number of credit card frauds more than doubled in just 4 years.
(Source: Federal Reserve)
So.
How common is credit card fraud?
Between 2012 and 2015, the number of credit card frauds rose from 14 million to 30.4 million. This is an increase of over 117%!
The number of debit card payments increased from 13.7 million to 28.7 million for the same period.
Very popular, it seems.
16. Credit card issuers bear more than 65% of fraud losses.
(Source: Nilson Report)
Not only consumers suffer from credit card fraud. Four constituents in the card payment industry incur losses — issuers, merchants, merchant acquirers, and ATM acquirers.
Card issuers accounted for 65.40% of gross losses to fraud worldwide in 2020. In dollar terms, this was $18.69 billion, less than the $19.59 billion in 2019.
The other 34.60% of fraud losses, which equaled $9.89 billion, were incurred by merchants, ATM acquirers, and merchant acquirers. In 2019, that group experienced $9.06 billion in losses to fraud.
17. Card-not-present fraud to cost retailers $130 billion between 2018 and 2023.
(Source: Juniper Research)
Retailers around the globe are projected to lose some $130 billion in digital CNP fraud between 2018 and 2023.
Remote fraud is one of the most common credit card frauds. It’s becoming more popular because scammers don’t need to have physical access to a credit card. They can buy card details from the dark web or steal them with a phishing attack.
18. In 2013, hackers stole card details of about 40 million Target customers.
(Source: Gizmodo)
This is one of the most notorious cyber crimes in modern history. In 2013, hackers stole personal data of around 40 million Target customers.
By all means, these are some pretty impressive credit card fraud statistics.
The hackers managed to break into Target’s system and get access to the shoppers’ names, credit or debit card numbers, and CVV security codes.
Investigators later found out that the hackers got access to a third-party vendor’s credentials. They used that information to access Target’s systems and steal credit card details.
In 2017, Target agreed to pay $18.5 million in settlements because of the hack.
19. 63% of credential stuffing attacks target the retail, travel, and hospitality industries.
(Source: Akamai)
Credit card fraud facts show that retail, travel, and hospitality are the most targeted industries by phishing attacks. About 63% of all credential theft attempts between 2018 and 2020 happened to companies and customers in these sectors.
Credential theft usually involves the customer’s name and email address, as well as their credit card numbers, their CVV codes, social security numbers, and other juicy info that the criminals can later use.
20. About 11% of credit card owners use “1234” as their PIN code.
(Source: Mashable)
I know what you’re thinking. “This can’t be true,” right?
It was certainly true in 2012 when the research was conducted. As credit card fraud statistics show, 1 out of 10 people uses “1234” as their PIN code.
Do I even need to mention how much of a horrible idea that is?
“1234” is easy to guess and can lead to fraud on credit cards.
You may think that things have changed since then. But old habits die hard. People don’t like to remember complex numbers. Instead, they pick the ones that easily pop in their heads.
Why do you think that after so many years, “123456” is still the most widely used password globally?
Friendly advice: never choose a PIN code that’s easy to guess. Examples include:
- 1234
- 1111
- 0000
- similar combinations that are easy to figure out
- the year you were born
- the year your child was born
- your car’s plate number
Also, skimming is still a thing. Look out for suspicious ATMs whenever you need money. Otherwise, you may end up in the credit card skimming statistics.
Wrap Up
Credit card theft is here to stay. It’s now more of cybercrime than a robbery-type of threat.
This is bad news. Internet crimes feel “safer” to perform (even though there is no anonymity in the digital world). This means more and more criminals will turn to the internet to steal credit card data and milk bank accounts.
As credit card fraud statistics show, financial losses are getting bigger every year. The idea of a cashless society gains popularity, which means more electronic payments and a higher risk of fraud.
Maybe it’s time to ask yourself if you’re prepared to deal with the consequences of that risk before they turn into reality.