Credit card fraud swelling
About 7.2 million euros was charged in the first half of 2023 to debit and credit card holders due to the 31% increase in fraud incidents which raised the amount “embezzled” from cards to €12.5 million (an increase of 29% compared to the second half of 2022). To this amount one should add another €79.5 million from phishing in 2022 (no newer figures have been published) from bank accounts, pushing the level of fraud close to €100 million per year.
As can be seen from the data published in the Financial Stability report of the Bank of Greece, although the amounts of illegal interception of account details or card details are small compared to those traded in total through money transfers or through purchases with plastic money (they represent 0.003% and 0.02% respectively), the value of the embezzled money increased by 204% in the first category in relation to 2021 and by 29% in the second in relation to the second half of 2022.
Direct debits – i.e. the transfer of money from account to account – are in the fireproof area. The BoG reported they continue to be the safest means of payment as no fraud incidents were reported in 2022.
