"The significant decrease in credit card fraud losses this year really represents good news for banks' customers and the banks," said Kalyani Pillay, Sabric's CEO.
Card fraud in South Africa accounts for most of the banking industry's financial losses in this type of crime.
However, Pillay said, this year's trends show an increase in financial losses resulting from the fraudulent usage of South Africa-issued credit cards outside of the country's borders.
Most of the cross border fraud is committed in the UK, USA, Australia, France and China, she said.
Counterfeit card fraud, the primary card fraud category for the past 3 years, decreased by 32 percent but still accounted for the industry's financial losses of R141.4 million this year.
"This card fraud type occurs mainly when card information stolen through the skimming of cards is fraudulently used," Pillay said.
Banking industry financial losses due to the fraudulent use of lost and stolen cards decreased by 60% in the past year from R92.9 million to R37.2 million.
"The significant decrease in lost and stolen card fraud is attributed to the roll-out of chip & pin cards by the banks in South Africa, and the aggressive implementation of floor limits at identified merchants by the card community," Pillay added.
Losses due to credit cards that were intercepted prior to them reaching their intended recipients or "Not Received Issued card fraud," decreased by 71%.
"This is attributed to the banking industry's collaborative initiatives with partners such as the post office and courier companies contracted to deliver bank cards to clients."
Pillay said that while credit card fraud losses had decreased across all card fraud types, this year's card fraud data illustrated a focus by the perpetrators on fraud not requiring the physical presence of the card or the cardholder or "Card Not Present Fraud."
"The downward trend of card fraud types that require the physical presentation of the card such as lost or stolen cards, and the apparent shift towards card fraud committed via the Internet, mail orders and telephone, mirrors the global trends of countries that have migrated to chip & pin technology.
"Our own roll-out of chip & pin is at a fairly advanced stage, and this explains the sudden change in tactics by the perpetrators of these crimes."
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