Irish consumers lost over €12 million through debit and credit card scams in the first half of last year, according to new figures published by the Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI).
The data shows that online card fraud was up 21% in the first six months of 2020, reflecting the boost in online shopping during the pandemic.
Meanwhile, in-store card fraud dropped by 52% during this period.
A total of 143,000 fraudulent card transactions were detected in between January and May.
Brian Hayes, Chief Executive of the BPFI said that 72% of these transactions involved the theft of card details. Fraudsters do this mainly by using fake text messages, email scams or fake websites to get a hold of a consumer s card details and go on to use those details to make fraudulent payments mostly online, he explained.
Irish consumers lost over €12 million to online credit and debit card scams in six months last year | JOE is the voice of Irish people at home and abroad
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