September 07, 2010
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News: Card Fraud Down In Canada
As Americans, we often think our country is isolated outside the boundaries of our nation. Credit card fraud and identity theft has become so rampant in our country that it is easy to forget that we are not fighting this battle alone. In fact, our neighbors have the ability and resources to team with us in fighting debit and credit card crime along with most any other crime. A recent report by Canada's Criminal Intelligence Service indicates that we Americans have something to learn about fighting credit card fraud from our Northern neighbors. The agency's Intelligence Service Canada 2010 Report on Organized Crime indicated that debit and credit card fraud in Canada is slowly decreasing as a result of new chip and pin technology.
According to the report, debit and credit losses in Canada resulting from fraud reached $500.7 million last year which was a 2.2 percent decrease from the previous year's losses of $512.2 million. The report did show that the greatest decrease occurred with credit card fraud. Debit card fraud, however, increased significantly by 26 percent to $142.3 million. Although an eye opener, the increase in debit card fraud is not surprising because of the dramatic increase in debit card spending as cardholders continue to pay down credit card debt. In addition to the increase in debit card fraud, the report indicated an increase in securities fraud as well.
The report attributed the decrease in credit card fraud to new pin and chip technology particularly to the rollout of Interac. Interac will phase out the use of magnetic strip transactions and expects that all automatic teller machines (ATM) will be upgraded by 2012. The point of sale systems will not be completely phased out of the old system until 2015. It is expected that as the Interac system is phased into the ATM and point of sale systems, Canadian should see a continual decline in debit card theft as well. Of course it is hard to know for sure what types of pin and chip, if any, the U.S. banks are working out, but it is clear that we have something to learn from our neighbors.