More stolen bank card crime but less skimming, say Dutch banks

Fraud using lost or stolen bank cards netted thieves €4.7m in the Netherlands last year, up €1.4m on 2014, the Dutch banking association NVB said on Friday.

The NVB said the increase is largely due to people responding to fake emails asking them to use their pin codes on a given website and to send in their own bank card in exchange for a new one.

There has, however, been a drop in the number of cases of skimming, or reading cards’ magnetic strips, the NVB said. This is due to the switch towards chip-based payments in Europe. Most of the cases of skimming involved cards which had been copied outside Europe.

Losses stemming from fraud involving internet banking went down by €1m to €3.7m. Most of this was refunded by the banks. Just 1.1% of the total was not refunded because of ‘gross negligence’ by the customer, the NVB said.

The banks reported no cases of fraud involving contact free payment and payment by app.