Business warned of online danger

BUSINESSES are being urged to increase online protection as 78 per cent of credit-card fraud occurs online, a report has found.

There has been a significant increase in “card not present” fraud, which occurs when valid card details are stolen and used to make purchases without the actual card, the annual fraud report by Australian Payments Network says.

Last year, card not present fraud accounted for 78 per cent of all card-related fraud, allowing criminals to pocket $417.6 million, up from $363 million in 2015.

The report found Australians used their cards to make a record $714.5 billion in transactions — up 4 per cent on a year earlier — and fraud accounted for $534 million of it.

The report found card not present fraud was increasing amid a global trend of criminal activity migrating online in a bid to circumvent improvements to card-chip technology, which has deterred face-toface fraud.

Global data breaches over the past few months, including a spate of ransomware attacks that have hit organisations such as logistics giant FedEx’s TNT Express unit and Britain’s National Health Service, have also captured sensitive card data, while email phishing attacks are increasing.

AusPayNet chief executive Leila Fourie said it was important for merchants to use fraudprevention tools online. “As Australia transitions towards even higher levels of online payments, customers and merchants need to increase security awareness,” she said.

Dr Fourie said the network would launch a program to educate consumers and businesses on how to protect their online identities.

The report said emerging technology was helping to combat card frauds, including advanced biometrics, geolocation and social-media analytics that could be used to help authenticate customers.

The growth in popularity of mobile, or virtual, wallets suggested that by 2020 only a fifth of online transactions would require card details to be typed into a web browser.