Protecting against credit card fraud 'more important than ever'

With the growth on online shopping giving Australians the opportunity to buy almost anything from anywhere in the world, it has never been more important for consumers to protect themselves against credit card fraud, according to reports.

The Sydney Morning Herald states that new figures from the Australian Payments Clearing Association (APCA), charge and credit card fraud rose to 44.5 cents in every $1,000 worth of purchases in 2007, up from 36.9 cents per $1,000 the year before.

And, the newspaper adds, according to the Australian Bankers' Association (ABA), around 70 per cent of this rise can be attributed to "card not present" transactions, such as purchases made from overseas websites.

ABA chief executive David Bell told the publication there is a higher risk of fraud from these pages because they "may not have strong protections in place", unlike many domestic websites.

Chris Hamilton, the chief executive of the APCA, added that worldwide internet shopping also allows fraudsters to act globally, making it vital that Australians protect their credit cards online.

However, he noted, while it is important to remain vigilant against unusual activity on a credit card bill as it is essential to catch any fraud as quickly as possible, Australia still has relatively low levels of fraud compared to other countries.

For example, in Britain, consumers are four times as likely to be the victim of card fraud, Mr Hamilton stated.

The ABA recommends a number of tactics to guard against credit card fraud. They include reading a website's privacy and security policies, keeping passwords secure, not divulging any personal information not necessary to make the purchase and saving all details of transactions carried out online.

According to the Australian Federal Police, Australians own around 12 million credit cards.

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