Fraud Statistics Jul 18 - Jun 19
Spending on cards is up, and card fraud is declining.
In the 12 months to 30 June 2019 (FY19), spending on Australian cards grew by 4.2% to $799 billion. Against this, card fraud dropped by 6.9% to $527.8 million. Within this overall total:
- counterfeit/ skimming fraud fell 19.2% to $18.6 million
- lost and stolen fraud fell 16.1% to $43.0 million
- card-not-present (CNP) dropped 5.0% to $455.5 million
The drop in CNP fraud in FY19 is likely due to the increasing adoption of secure technologies such as real time monitoring, machine learning, tokenisation and EMV 3-D Secure; nonetheless, CNP fraud still accounts for 86.3% of all fraud on Australian cards.
The FY19 data covers the period ending immediately before 1 July 2019 when the industry’s CNP Fraud Mitigation Framework took effect. We look forward to tracking the impact of this key initiative to counter online fraud in future releases. For further information on this data release, please see the Media Release.
Fraud Statistics Jul 18 - Jun 19 Revised Oct 20Fraud Perpetrated on Australian Cheques and Cards
1 July 2018 - 30 June 2019 (Revised October 2020)
| Fraud Transactions | Total Transactions | Fraud Rates | ||||
| Number | Value | Number (millions) | Value (millions) | as % of total no. of transactions | as % of total value ($) of transactions | |
| Cheques | 460 | 3,548,133 | 63 ^ | 727,703 ^ | 0.0007% | 0.0005% |
| Australian-issued cards | 4,105,180 ^ | 528,786,562 ^ | 10,443 | 799,609 ^ | 0.0393% | 0.0661% |
| Proprietary debit cards | 59,777 | 12,976,788 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Scheme credit, debit and charge cards | 4,045,403 | 515,809,774 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Total | 4,105,640 | 532,334,695 | 10,507 | 1,527,312 | 0.0391% | 0.0349% |
^ = Figures have been revised.
Cheque Fraud Perpetrated in Australia
1 July 2018 - 30 June 2019
| Category | Actual | Exposure | Recoveries* |
| On-Us Fraud | Transactions | Value ($) | Transactions | Value ($) | Value ($) |
| Valueless | 1 | 4,712 | 404 | 12,243,510 | 878,044 |
| Fraudulently Altered | 155 | 1,067,751 | 353 | 3,829,439 | 202,615 |
| Stolen Blank Cheque / Book | 249 | 1,317,274 | 1,305 | 1,109,293,396 | 349,432 |
| Originated Counterfeit Cheques | 17 | 199,781 | 72 | 2,497,743 | 447,398 |
| Non-originated Counterfeit Cheques | 8 | 114,470 | 79 | 9,668,546 | 13,953 |
| Breach of Mandate | 2 | 430,652 | 29 | 444,963 | 5,000 |
| On-Us Total | 432 | 3,134,640 | 2,242 | 1,137,977,597 | 1,896,442 |
| Deposit Fraud | |||||
| Valueless | 26 | 410,828 | 319 | 17,292,150 | 244,580 |
| Valueless - Kite Flying | 0 | 0 | 6 | 140,488 | 1,625 |
| Third Party Conversion | 2 | 2,665 | 84 | 3,085,875 | 14,623 |
| Deposit Total | 28 | 413,493 | 409 | 20,518,513 | 260,828 |
| Total | 460 | 3,548,133 | 2,651 | 1,158,496,110 | 2,157,270 |
* 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 July 2018 - 30 June 2019
| Category | Transactions | Value |
| Debit Card Fraud – PIN Used: | ||
| Lost/Stolen | 14,247 | 3,112,210 |
| Never Received | 2,141 | 734,073 |
| Counterfeit/Skimming | 17,707 | 5,942,486 |
| Other | 5,508 | 1,909,381 |
| PIN Used Total | 39,603 | 11,698,150 |
| Debit Card Fraud – PIN Not Used: | ||
| Lost/Stolen | 13,326 | 702,654 |
| Never Received | 3,046 | 163,755 |
| Counterfeit/Skimming | 93 | 8,346 |
| Other | 3,709 | 403,883 |
| PIN Not Used Total | 20,174 | 1,278,638 |
| Total Debit Card Fraud | 59,777 | 12,976,788 |
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 July 2018 - 30 June 2019 (Revised April 2020)
| Category | In Australia | Overseas | Total |
| Transactions | Value ($) | Transactions | Value ($) | Transactions | Value ($) | |
| Lost / Stolen | 319,850 | 24,336,942 | 60,917 | 14,897,103 | 380,767 | 39,234,044 |
| Never Received | 19,882 | 2,850,688 | 741 | 249,931 | 20,623 | 3,100,619 |
| Fraudulent Application | 6,375 | 2,241,002 | 1,150 | 333,984 | 7,525 | 2,574,986 |
| Counterfeit / Skimming | 29,437 | 5,432,923 | 41,759 | 7,278,103 | 71,195 | 12,711,026 |
| Card Not Present (CNP) | 1,913,090 | 242,827,410 | 1,647,866 | 213,497,049 | 3,560,956 | 456,324,459 |
| Other | 2,820 | 1,174,705 | 1,517 | 689,935 | 4,337 | 1,864,640 |
| Total | 2,291,454 | 278,863,669 | 1,753,949 | 236,946,105 | 4,045,403 | 515,809,775 |
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 | 15,572 | 3,850,529 |
| Never Received | 985 | 147,692 |
| Fraudulent Application | 720 | 153,669 |
| Counterfeit / Skimming | 20,356 | 6,376,412 |
| Card Not Present (CNP) | 316,530 | 77,781,366 |
| Other | 3,861 | 1,441,983 |
| Total | 358,024 | 89,751,650 |
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.
