Headline losses from credit card fraud are only part of the problem facing UK ecommerce firms. Chargeback costs from failed transactions are also costing them dear.

Credit card fraud protection specialist The 3rd Man reckons "card not present" crime in the UK is far higher than official statistics suggest and is getting worse. More than £500m of fraud was attempted during 2007, it reckons.

Card-not-present (CNP) fraud (a category that covers ecommerce and mail order transactions) reached £290.5m in 2007, according to official figures from banking association APACS.

Andrew Goodwill, of The 3rd Man, said about 45 per cent of attempted transactions are fraudulent. The introduction of Chip and PIN in the UK high street has prompted crooks to focus on CNP fraud, where the buyer does not have to be physically present at the point of transaction (such as internet and mail order shopping).

Sharing data on suspicious transactions is one important technique for combatting the problem, he added. ®

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