February 25, 2014 - Card fraud in the Single euro payments area (Sepa) increased in 2012 for the first time in four years, hitting EUR1.33 billion, European Central Bank figures show.

As online shopping continues to gain in popularity, the ECB blames the 15% year-on-year rise in the value of credit and debit card fraud on higher Internet crime.

In 2012 one euro in every EUR2635 spent on cards issued within Sepa was lost to fraud - 0.038% of a total of EUR3.5 trillion transactions, up from 0.036% in 2011. However, despite the recent spike, compared with 2008 the overall amount of fraud has decreased by 9.3%.

The data show that 60% of the value of fraud in 2012 resulted from card-not-present payments, compared to just 23% from POS terminals and 17% from ATMs. In 2008, just 46% of fraud was CNP and 36% was POS.

Yet the ECB argues that the 21% rise in CNP fraud between 2011 and 2012 must be seen in the context of a similarly rapid growth in online transactions.

This, says the bank, is why it has given its backing to a new guide for assessing the security of Internet payments across the EU that was recently put together by the European Forum on the Security of Retail Payments.

Meanwhile, ATM and POS fraud has again been put down to crime carried out in non-EMV countries. In 2012, 94% of ATM and 65% of POS counterfeit losses were incurred outside the euro-zone.