Payment Card Fraud Losses Reach $32.34 Billion
Payment card fraud losses worldwide exceeded $32 billion in 2021, of which nearly $12 billion was in the US, according to the Nilson Report, the leading trade publication covering the global payment card industry. Losses to fraud worldwide increased by 14% in 2021.
Over the next 10 years, the industry is projected to lose an accumulated $397 billion worldwide, with $165 billion coming from the US.
The US accounted for 37% of worldwide losses to card fraud in 2021 even though it only accounted for 23% of card spending at merchants and cash transactions at ATMs combined. Higher fraud losses in the US were attributable to a 25% increase in purchases made by credit cards after a 9% drop in 2020. Also impacting fraud in the US was the continued growth in card-not-present transactions such as those that occur when spending online. Online purchases leave merchants more vulnerable to fraud.
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The $11.9 billion in fraud losses in the US in 2021 was up 18%. Fraud in the US was connected to card volume of $11.3 trillion. In 2020, the US total for fraud losses was $10.1 billion tied to $9.4 trillion in total card volume.
Among payment card industry executives, fraud is expressed in basis points (cents) per $100 in total volume. In 2021, it was 6.61¢ per $100 in total volume. This was an improvement from 2020 when the figure was 6.77¢ per $100.
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The total for worldwide spending for goods and services, combined with cash advances against lines of credit and cash withdrawals from funds on deposit, equaled $48.955 trillion in 2021, an increase of 16.6% from 2020. This payment volume was generated by global brand, domestic-market-only and private label credit, debit and prepaid cards used at merchants in stores and online, along with cash obtained at ATMs.
“While fraud as a percentage of total card dollar volume declined, criminals saw 14% growth in the money they were able to steal from the system. Card fraud netted criminals nearly $4 billion more in 2021 than in 2020,” said David Robertson, Publisher of the Nilson Report.
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