Online Fraud Set to Soar

The Sunday Times reports that Internet experts are predicting a surge in online fraud over the festive season as record numbers of shoppers are expected to turn to the internet in search of Christmas bargains.

IMRG, the internet retail monitoring group, estimates that UK shoppers will spend £5 billion on 24 million online purchases over the Christmas period. The sheer volume of online spending has prompted criminal gangs to venture on to the internet in search of rich pickings from shoppers who fail to take the necessary security precautions with their card purchases.

Online fraud now accounts for more than half the overall losses to card-not-present fraud, which rose to £90.6 million in the first half of this year, up 29 per cent on the previous year.