BBC News, 8
January 2013
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| Europol says cross-border specialised teams are needed to tackle card fraud |
Criminal
gangs are making about 1.5bn euros (£1.2bn; $2bn) annually from such fraud, the
EU police agency Europol says, regretting that compliance with new security
features remains patchy.
In 2011
nearly all fraud involving EU cards took place outside the EU. Chip-and-PIN
security used in the EU is not yet global, Europol notes.
Such fraud
cases overseas have risen.
Besides the
US, the fraud networks are also very active in Brazil, Colombia, the Dominican
Republic, Mexico and Russia, Europol says.
"So
far most of the credit card numbers misused in the EU have come from data
breaches in the US," Europol says, adding that most illegal face-to-face
card transactions with EU-issued cards also happened in the US.
In 2011
alone nearly 727m payment cards were issued in the EU.
Fraudulent
"card-not-present" transactions, where personal data is stolen on the
internet, account for about 60% of the losses from credit card fraud, according
to Europol.
The agency
is launching a new Cybercrime Centre in The Hague this week, dedicated to
fighting such crimes.
Europol
notes a range of problems in tackling credit card fraud:
- Proper regulations for reporting data breaches to police are lacking
- Criminals operate in complex international networks, exploiting gaps in police and justice co-operation
- Often the crimes take place online in several countries, with numerous people involved
- Data thefts on the internet usually involve huge quantities of personal data, which criminals then sell on the internet.
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