By Robert Berner and Adrienne Carter, Business Week
With a computer-security breach involving 40 million credit cards grabbing headlines, it would be easy to assume that this kind of fraud is on the rise. But while such a volume of compromised data is alarming, the fact remains that credit-card fraud has actually been falling, industry experts say.
Improved systems to detect bogus transactions have produced a decade-long decline in fraud as a percentage of overall dollar transactions. In 2004, illegal credit-card purchases totaled $788 million in the U.S., down from $882 million in 2003, according to Nilson Report, a trade publication. That represents just 4.7 cents for $100 worth of purchases, well down from a high of 15.7 cents in 1992.
For this complete story, please visit The Truth About Credit-Card Fraud.
