U.S. Said to Be No. 2 Out of 20 Countries in Credit Card Fraud

Nearly half of U.S. consumers say they have been hit by credit card fraud within the last five years, and those breaches are becoming more commonplace, according to a survey released Tuesday.

ACI Worldwide and Aite Group surveyed 6,035 consumers from 20 countries and found that credit card fraud is a bigger problem in the United States than almost every other nation that was examined.

In the U.S., 47% of consumers said they had been victims of credit card fraud within the last five years. That figure was up from 41% in 2014. The only country that fared worse in the survey was Mexico, where 56% of consumers reported having been the victims of credit card fraud.

Reported fraud rates were substantially lower in Europe. The U.S. has lagged behind European nations in implementing microchip technology designed to combat fraud.

In the U.K. and in France, 29% of consumers said they experienced credit card fraud within the last five years, according to the survey. The comparable number in Germany was 18%, and in the Netherlands it was 14%.

The poor showing by the United States did not surprise Andreas Suma, vice president of global fraud and data at ACI Worldwide. He noted that the U.S. was late in adopting the microchip technology known as EMV. He also said that fraudsters can find more information online about American consumers than they can for consumers in other countries.

"The U.S. is essentially an easier target than many other markets," Suma said.

The survey also included findings about the incidence of fraud involving debit cards.

In the U.S., 21% of consumers reported being the victim of debit card fraud within the past five years; that was the fifth-highest incidence rate among the 20 countries surveyed.

"In the U.S., fraud rates are driven by the fact that it is a wealthy economy and that card payments are the go-to payment method for most consumers," the report stated. "Combined with the prevalence of online shopping and slow adoption of EMV, the U.S. is still a gold mine for criminals."

For U.S. banks, there was one silver lining in the survey results: 59% of American consumers said they were happy with the treatment they got from their financial institution when they experienced card fraud. Only the U.K. scored as high, and no country scored higher.

The survey was conducted in March.

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Consumer banking Data security Credit cards Fraud detection
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