Card Fraud Hotspots Identified By Firm

London is the UK's biggest card fraud hotspot, figures from data security group The 3rd Man have revealed.

Over the course of its research, the firm analysed 30 million online and mail order transactions through credit cards - and found especially high rates of the fraud in the capital city. Coventry, Manchester and Nottingham also scored highly for the crimes.

By contrast, credit card customers remain relatively free from fraud in Cardiff and Belfast, with the two cities taking the bottom two places. Overall, The 3rd Man said, fraud rates have dropped since it last conducted its survey.

Explaining this positive result, the firm's Andrew Goodwill commented: "Local policing activity has targeted these criminals and it’s having a clear effect."

Referring to a recent parliamentary investigation into card fraud, he added: "[The analysis] backs up what the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee said about the need for more policing in this area."

Earlier this month, the committee recommended that card fraud victims should be empowered to pass details of the crime on to police themselves, rather than having to rely on banks to do so. Banks have a "commercial" incentive not to report, and do so only in "very few cases", committee member Lord Broers commented.