Wave and pay limit ‘must stay at £30’ after rise in contactless fraud
CONTACTLESS card fraud has overtaken cheque scams for the first time as experts warn the “wave and pay” limit should not be lifted.
Figures from UK Finance, which works with police and represents the payment industry, show that contactless card fraud overtook cheque fraud in the first half of 2017, hitting £5.6million.
Finance experts have warned banks against raising the £30 limit for payments that do not require a pin, to avoid incentivising more criminals to steal them.
It comes after Victoria Cleland, the Bank of England’s chief cashier, said she had heard of instances of money being “taken off contactless when you walk past something” and does not use the cards herself.
“We may see the fraud increase because it would become better for them – they can actually get £50 of goods rather than £30 of goods for the same work.
“My concern is the limit going up. If the limit goes up, it will increase the fraud. The only way you can tighten up [fraud] around contactless is to not increase the limit any more,” she said.
Sarah Lewis, head of ID and fraud decision strategy at Equifax UK, told The Daily Telegraph: “I’d like the limits to stay where they are, that would make me feel more comfortable.”
She warned no method of payment was “riskless” and said she had heard of cases where criminals had used technology purchased illegally on the Dark Web to steal card data from contactless cards. “Unfortunately, with contactless you can download some illegal software and get it on your phone that can read your card details. It’s not like half the population is being defrauded, it’s a very small percentage,” she added.
But with “cash and cheques dying out”, contactless card fraud would be likely to increase as more were issued, she said. Banks should remain vigilant and avoid measures that might encourage criminals to steal the cards, she said, for example by keeping the wave and pay limit capped at £30.
In October, The Telegraph revealed how some of the UK’S biggest retailers were selling anti-fraud devices for contactless cards amid a rise in contactless fraud and concerns that criminals are taking wireless readers into busy crowds in order to charge people’s contactless cards with bogus payments while they are still in their handbags and pockets.
UK Finance said: “Contactless fraud is low with robust security features in place in every card.
“At the same time, customers are fully protected against card fraud and will never be left out of pocket, unlike if they lose cash.”