Fraud Statistics Jan 17 - Dec 17
“With fraud values in other areas of card payments either flat or falling, attention is now focussed squarely on online fraud”
We publish card payments fraud statistics reported by Australia’s financial institutions and major card schemes to monitor prevention measures and trends, and help inform businesses and consumers about fraud issues.
Data released for 2017 calendar year shows:
- Card fraud of all types was up 5% to $561 million and accounted for 0.075% of the overall value of card transactions. As the overall value of transactions was also up 5% to $748.1 billion, the rate of card fraud remained largely the same as in 2016.
- Chip technology is providing strong protection for in-person transactions. In 2017, counterfeit/skimming fraud fell to the lowest value since 2006.
- As in-person fraud becomes harder, and as more payments are made online, fraud is migrating to card-not-present channels. Almost 85% of card fraud now occurs online, reflecting a global trend of growing online card fraud and cybercrime generally.
This year, the industry has ramped up the fight coming together in a new approach to accelerate the uptake of online fraud prevention measures – the CNP Fraud Mitigation Framework.
For further information on this data release, please see the Australian Payment Card Fraud 2018 report and the accompanying Media Release.
Fraud Statistics for Jan - Dec 2017 (Revised December 2018) Australian Payment Card Fraud 2018 ReportFraud Perpetrated on Australian Cheques and Cards
1 January 2017 - 31 December 2017 (Revised December 2018)
| Fraud Transactions | Total Transactions | Fraud Rates | ||||
| Number | Value | Number (millions) | Value (millions) | as % of total no. of transactions | as % of total value ($) of transactions | |
| Cheques | 727 | $5,905,525 | 90 | $1,110,710 | 0.0008% | 0.0005% |
| Australian-issued cards | 3,581,001 ^ | $561,327,309 ^ | 8,965 | $748,108 | 0.0399% | 0.0750% |
| Proprietary debit cards | 51,011 | $16,901,729 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Scheme credit, debit and charge cards | 3,529,990 | $544,425,580 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Total | 3,581,728 | $567,232,834 | 9,054 | $1,858,818 | 0.0396% | 0.0305% |
^ = Figures have been revised.
Cheque Fraud Perpetrated in Australia
1 January 2017 - 31 December 2017
| Category | Actual | Exposure | Recoveries* |
| On-Us Fraud | Transactions | Value ($) | Transactions | Value ($) | Value ($) |
| Valueless | 0 | 0 | 470 | 22,415,866 | 5,580 |
| Fraudulently Altered | 234 | 2,446,958 | 572 | 8,263,601 | 1,377,268 |
| Stolen Blank Cheque / Book | 383 | 2,291,542 | 1,727 | 8,884,184 | 253,197 |
| Originated Counterfeit Cheques | 31 | 319,127 | 176 | 2,230,941 | 196,975 |
| Non-originated Counterfeit Cheques | 31 | 289,749 | 159 | 11,744,658 | 122,268 |
| Breach of Mandate | 6 | 382,332 | 8 | 367,227 | 0 |
| On-Us Total | 685 | 5,729,708 | 3,112 | 53,906,477 | 1,955,288 |
| Deposit Fraud | |||||
| Valueless | 29 | 75,985 | 414 | 31,950,841 | 237,197 |
| Valueless - Kite Flying | 2 | 14,321 | 20 | 270,177 | 2,325 |
| Third Party Conversion | 11 | 85,511 | 40 | 2,227,165 | 27,796 |
| Deposit Total | 42 | 175,817 | 474 | 34,448,183 | 267,318 |
| Total | 727 | 5,905,525 | 3,586 | 88,354,660 | 2,222,606 |
* Data on the 'transactions' of recoveries is not collected.
“Actual” losses can relate to “Exposure” during an earlier period. This explains why, in some reporting periods,actual losses may exceed exposure.
Proprietary Debit Card Fraud Perpetrated in Australia
1 January 2017 - 31 December 2017
| Category | Transactions | Value |
| Debit Card Fraud – PIN Used: | ||
| Lost/Stolen | 9,467 | 2,379,625 |
| Never Received | 3,465 | 1,435,087 |
| Counterfeit/Skimming | 33,143 | 11,912,059 |
| Other | 1,208 | 802,358 |
| PIN Used Total | 47,283 | 16,529,129 |
| Debit Card Fraud – PIN Not Used: | ||
| Lost/Stolen | 2,427 | 169,639 |
| Never Received | 308 | 40,361 |
| Counterfeit/Skimming | 65 | 26,347 |
| Other | 928 | 136,253 |
| PIN Not Used Total | 3,728 | 372,600 |
| Total Debit Card Fraud | 51,011 | 16,901,729 |
Note: For fraudulent transactions initiated at ATMs, POS terminals and other devices, the above statistics incorporate all transactions where either "cheque" or "savings" was selected, regardless of the type of card used (that is debit card, 'combo’ card, scheme card etc). The number of fraud transactions does not represent the number of cards or consumers affected. Typically, multiple fraud transactions are made on a single card.
Scheme Credit, Debit and Charge Card Fraud
Perpetrated in Australia and Overseas on Australia-issued Cards
1 January 2017 - 31 December 2017 (Revised December 2018)
| Category | In Australia | Overseas | Total |
| Transactions | Value ($) | Transactions | Value ($) | Transactions | Value ($) | |
| Lost / Stolen | 320,911 | 24,670,357 | 55,602 | 13,358,766 | 376,513 | 38,029,123 |
| Never Received | 39,473 | 6,148,466 | 2,079 | 324,453 | 41,552 | 6,472,918 |
| Fraudulent Application | 8,725 | 2,783,986 | 2,308 | 547,853 | 11,033 | 3,331,839 |
| Counterfeit / Skimming | 20,461 | 4,577,573 | 53,508 | 14,382,368 | 73,969 | 18,959,941 |
| Card Not Present (CNP) | 1,424,157 | 227,435,214 | 1,595,444 | 248,654,650 | 3,019,601 | 476,089,864 |
| Other | 3,708 | 926,027 | 3,614 | 615,867 | 7,322 | 1,541,894 |
| Total | 1,817,435 | 266,541,622 | 1,712,555 | 277,883,958 | 3,529,990 | 544,425,580 |
Note: The number of fraud transactions does not represent the number of cards or consumers affected. Typically, multiple fraud transactions are made on a single card.
Fraud Perpetrated in Australia on Cards issued Overseas
| Category | Transactions | Value ($) |
| Lost / Stolen | 25,418 | 3,422,185 |
| Never Received | 718 | 102,401 |
| Fraudulent Application | 1,402 | 131,728 |
| Counterfeit / Skimming | 29,677 | 7,636,940 |
| Card Not Present (CNP) | 352,781 | 67,313,707 |
| Other | 2,523 | 776,926 |
| Total | 412,519 | 79,383,886 |
Note: The number of fraud transactions does not represent the number of cards or consumers affected. Typically, multiple fraud transactions are made on a single card.
