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SA posts R4.5bn credit, debit card fraud over 7 years

South Africans have lost almost R4.5 billion to credit and debit card fraud since 2010, the latest fraud data from the SA Banking Risk Information Centre (Sabric) show.

Since 2010, R2.49 billion has been lost to credit card fraud.

And, over the past seven years, total debit card fraud has totalled R1.9 billion.

In 2016, South African credit card users lost R374 million – down from a peak of R463 million in 2014.

In the same year, local debit card users lost R354 million, compared with the highest recorded loss of R404 million in 2011.

These latest figures from Sabric, an organisation dominated by local banks – especially the major ones – show that 48% of credit card fraud losses occur throughout South Africa, while 80% of debit card fraud losses take place in Gauteng.

Card payments constituted 61% of all payment transactions processed in South Africa in 2016, with more than 60 million debit cards and nearly 8 million credit cards having been in circulation.

The biggest form of credit card fraud came about where the credit card was not used, constituting a “card not present” loss. Instead, a credit card number was used.

The highest “card not present” fraud recorded since 2010 occurred in 2016 with the amount of R250 million.

The most significant debit card fraud occurred in the “lost or stolen” category, with a loss of R193 million recorded in 2016 – the biggest such loss since 2010.

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