The annual Infosecurity Europe show is set to kick off in London tomorrow, which is good news for lovers of security research as the surveys are starting to flow today. Like the one conducted by the organisers of the event which reveals that banks are not to blame for credit card fraud and identity theft according to the victims of those crimes, retailers are.
The survey of 1000 commuters in London suggests a veritable tidal wave of fraud and ID theft in the UK, with 44 percent admitting they had fallen victim to card fraud and 42 percent said their identity had been stolen.
Apparently, the average amount stolen was £1448 per person with 37 percent of those asked saying they did not get their money back from the bank. Yet despite this, they confessed that it was the shops, the retailers, that were to blame according to 60 percent of those asked with only 12 percent blaming the banks. Funnily enough, 28 percent were actually honest enough to consider that it might actually have been their own fault.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, online transactions proved to be the most dangerous with 27 percent saying they were conned either this way or via email. That said, and not far behind, face-to-face transactions in shops and hotels also managed to con 20 percent of the respondents out of cash and personal data.
Over half of those that were subject to fraud or ID theft said that their credit rating was worse as a result with 37 percent stopping banking online 34 percent stopping shopping online. An impressive 78 percent did report the crime to the police, and 69 percent also reported it to their bank or credit card company, but only 14 percent bothered to report to the retailer concerned and 11 percent didn't bother reporting it to anyone.
Claire Sellick Event Director for Infosecurity Europe comments "the incidence of bank/credit card fraud and ID theft is very high, perhaps this is not surprising given how ingenious criminals have become. This is particularly true for online transactions and interactions as people are easily duped by offers that seem too good to turn down, pass on their details due to email phishing scams, act on phone calls from people claiming to be from their bank, or failing to check what post they throw away".
According to the research, the detailed breakdown of size of losses and likelihood of recovery is as follows:
- 13 percent of people had more than £5000 stolen with 1 in 10 not getting their money back from the bank
- 19 percent of people had between £1,001 to £5,000 stolen with a fifth not getting their money back from the bank
- 21 percent of people had between £501 to £1,000 stolen a third not getting their money back from the bank
- 12 percent of people had between £100 to £500 stolen with half not getting their money back from the bank
- 34 percent of people had less than £100 stolen with 56% not getting their money back from the bank
