While we all hope it never happens to us, credit card and debit card fraud is common in the UK and criminals attempt to steal hundreds of millions a year this way. Providers and banks do all they can to combat fraud, but you can also stay aware and report anything suspicious immediately. We look at the latest statistics on credit, debit and payment card fraud in the UK.
Credit card fraud statistics: Highlights
£551.3 million was lost to credit, debit and payment card fraud in the UK in 2023.
There were 2.73 million cases of payment card fraud in 2022.
The equivalent of every 1 in 20 adults experienced an instance of card fraud in 2023.
A quarter (25%) of all payment card fraud losses – worth £134.5 million – happened abroad in 2023.
Card ID theft cases were up by 74% year-on-year in 2023.
The average instance of card fraud results in a loss of £204.
The total number of card fraud cases is up by 109% since 2014.
How common is credit card fraud in the UK?
There were 2.7 million cases of UK credit and debit card fraud in 2023 – this is the equivalent of every 1 in 20 adults experiencing an instance of card fraud. The number of card fraud cases is down by 1% since 2022, but has still increased by a notable 109% since 2014.
£551.3 million was lost to credit, debit and payment card fraud in 2023, with the average amount defrauded per case sitting at £204. The total value of card fraud losses is also down by 1% since 2022 but has increased by 15% since 2014.
However, over £1 billion of card fraud was prevented in 2023, an increase of 4% from last year.
Losses from online card transaction fraud totalled £260 million in 2023, down 9% from £282.2 million in 2022. The value of losses increased steadily between 2013 and 2020, reaching a peak of £377.2 million in 2020 most likely due to the majority of transactions occurring online during the coronavirus pandemic. Since then, total losses from e-commerce card fraud have been declining year-on-year.
£134.5 million worth of fraud on UK-issued cards happened internationally in 2023, down slightly from £140.1 million in 2022. This means that almost a quarter of the value of all card fraud on UK-issues cards happens overseas.
The value of card fraud overseas peaked at over £200 million in 2016 but seems to have been gradually declining since then.
In 2022, Ireland was the top country for overseas fraud on UK-issued cards, with 1 in 5 (21%) instances occurring here. This is followed by the USA (15%), Luxembourg (13%), the Netherlands (10%) and Malta (6%).
Percentage of card fraud incidence per foreign country
Ireland
21%
USA
15%
Luxembourg
13%
Netherlands
10%
Malta
6%
What are the different types of card fraud?
Card skimming
Card skimming occurs when a criminal copies the data from a legitimate credit or debit card and uses this to create a fake plastic card. As the fake card contains real card details, it can be used to make payments.
Levels of card skimming, also known as counterfeit card fraud, have been declining over the past decade, with just 18,070 cases in 2023 compared to almost 100,000 in 2014. This is a decrease of 82% in levels of counterfeit card fraud.
Similarly, while UK residents lost a collective £47.8 million to counterfeit card fraud in 2014, this has reduced to just £4.7 million in 2022.
Credit card theft, or lost and stolen card fraud, is fairly self-explanatory. If someone steals your physical payment card or finds it when you lose it, they will be able to make payments.
In 2022, there were over 400,000 cases of lost and stolen card fraud, which totalled losses of over £100 million. There was an increase of 189% in cases of lost and stolen card fraud between 2013 and 2022.
Levels of fraud linked to lost and stolen payment cards decreased in 2020 and 2021, perhaps due to the pandemic and decreased movement, but they were on the rise again in 2022.
Remote purchase fraud occurs when criminals access a person’s account by pretending there is a problem with your account and offering to fix it by gaining remote access to your device.
This was the most common type of UK card fraud in 2023, with over 2 million incidents and almost £360 million worth of losses.
Identity fraud happens when someone steals your personal details and uses them to make payments.
There has been a big uptick in the level of card ID theft in the space of one year between 2022 and 2023, with a 74% year-on-year increase from just over 82,000 cases to just over 142,000 cases. The value of losses has also increased, from £51.7 million in 2022 to £79.1 million in 2022.
This type of card fraud occurs when a card is stolen in transit when on its way to the new owner.
The value of losses from this type of card fraud has reduced in recent years, with £3 million lost in 2023 to a total of almost 6,000 cases compared to £10.1 million lost in 2014 to a total of over 9,000 cases.
Fraud relating to cards being intercepted in this way peaked in 2016, when there were 11,377 total cases amounting to losses of £12.5 million.
Emily Herring is a Publisher at Finder specialising in credit-based products including credit cards and business and personal loans. Emily has recently joined the Investments team. She has a Masters in Creative Writing & Publishing and a Bachelor of Arts in Communication & Media. See full bio
Emily's expertise
Emily has written 145 Finder guides across topics including:
Sophie Barber is a content marketing manager for Finder in the UK after previously working as a content manager at a digital marketing agency. She has over 5 years experience in writing and publishing clear, concise and informative online articles for a variety of websites. See full bio
Sophie's expertise
Sophie has written 77 Finder guides across topics including:
Publishing original personal finance research
Creating data-led statistics pages to highlight industry trends
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