Bank Crime Redux: Card skim scams steal $170m in Australia

The Australian Crime Commission’s 2011 Organised Crime in Australia report makes for interesting reading in regards to Cyber Crime and the threat via Cyber Security. Put in other words it is simply Bank Crime.

The ACC “conservatively estimates” that organized and serious crime in Australia costs Australia A$10 to A$15 billion. Their estimates differ from those of other organizations such as the United Nations, but they are similar enough. The ACC talks about debit and credit card fraud, particularly skimming.

Interestingly in the US, the FBI does not count these type of crimes into their annual tally of bank crime. Bank crime, according to the FBI netted $43 million in what the FBI still quaintly calls, “Loot.” 

Here are some numbers.

Credit card and debit card fraud in Australia has coninued to increase substanially over the past three years. There were 63,894 fraudulent debit card transactions to a total value of A$24,471,348 ($21,851,200) during the year ended 31 December 2009, compared with 34 318 fraudulent transacions to a total value of A$14,393,443 ($11,347,200) during the year ended 31 December 2006. for the same years, there was an increase in credit/charge card fraud from 241,063 transacions totaling A$85,215,615 ($67,180,600) in 2006 to 593,819 transacions totalling A$145,854,208 ($130,238,000) in 2009. The greatest loss from card fraud is generated by card-not-present fraud, followed by counterfeit or altered cards, lost or stolen credit cards and fraudulent applications.

There are a lot of interesting figures in here: But first, note that fluctuating Australian dollar rate on the US dollar figures – it’s just weird to have the Aussie dollar worth more than the US dollar but that's what it currently is.

In 2009, the ACC said that fraudulent card transactions in Oz cost Aussies $130.2 million. That’s not the metric. But we note that it is already substantially higher than the $43 million in loot stolen by masked men in America in 2010.

Interesting, too that the “greatest loss from card fraud is generated by card-not-present fraud, followed by counterfeit or altered cards, lost or stolen credit cards and fraudulent applications.” That there’s all aided and abetted by card skimmers.

Today the Aussies come out with a new metric:

Credit and debit card fraud has tripled in just three years, with Australian consumers ripped off more than 657,000 times last year at a cost of A$170 million [$179 million].

The Australian version of The Daily Telegraph, talks about new numbers from the ACC on skimming and card fraud.

The multi-million-dollar profits have attracted organised crime, with Australia recently targeted by crime groups from Romania, Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka. These gangs are involved in large-scale card skimming, the Australian Crime Commission revealed in a report released today. Organised crime groups have also moved into [pension] fraud, using stolen identities to access savings or unclaimed [pension] funds.

That means: $179 million in card fraud in Australia. Cards, of course, are issued by banks (a “Bank”). And card fraud, you’ll remember, is a crime (a, “Crime”). Bank. Crime.   Bank crime. 

Source: The Daily Telegraph, Police Intelligence LED Blog

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