Police have issued a warning about a new scam which targets personal and business credit card holders.
The alert was broadcast after a business owner from Chester was contacted by telephone by a person who claimed to be a representative of the Cheshire Police press office. The caller proceeded to demand payment by credit card for advertisements in a police publication.
The latest figures from payments association Apacs show a steep rise in credit card fraud committed overseas using UK-issued cards, and holidaymakers are being warned to keep a close eye on their plastic.
A total of £118.2m of such overseas fraud was committed last year, which represented a rise of £36 over the year before.
The latest official figures from the UK payment clearing association Apacs show that credit card fraud has fallen by 5% compared to last year’s figures. Total fraud in the first six months of 2006 amounted to just under £210m, which represents a 17% drop over the same period in 2004.
The introduction of chip and pin technology has been credited with the improvement.
Cardholders are being warned to be vigilant when checking their account balances after Lloyds TSB said that credit card fraud was being increasingly driven overseas by the success of chip and pin.
Petrol giant Shell has suspended the use of chip and pin for payment at its 600 UK garages, following the discovery of a £1m fraud ring.