Net accounts for only 3% of card fraud

Only 3% of UK credit card fraud relates to the internet, according to experts, yet consumers are still concerned about buying online.

Last year there were 5.9bn of credit, debit and store card transactions, worth £292.6bn, said the Association for Payment Clearing Services. Fraudulent transactions were worth £293m, up 55% on 1999.

Over 90% of internet fraud relates to adult sites. Criminals set up bogus sites knowing that those giving their details were likely to be too embarrassed to report it, said Paula Widdowson of Card Protection Plan, which covers 6m cardholders in the UK.

Other cyber crimes involved email, she added. "Anyone giving their credit card details in an email, or to a person who has phoned, is ridiculous."

The safest way to buy online is to use a 16-digit pseudo number issued by your card company, instead of your card number. The pseudo number changes for every transaction.

But a secure socket or 128-bit encryption device, familiar by the padlock symbol that appears on-screen, does not guarantee that your card details will not be seen by prying eyes.

Non-internet fraud is still the most popular. From stolen till rolls or shop receipts, someone takes a card number and expiry date and uses them to buy goods by phone or internet. The majority of fraud is the result of pickpocketing or people losing cards.

In February it was found that waiters in London, employed by Russian gangs, were stealing account information by "skimming". After the bill is paid the card is reswiped through a magnetic strip reader costing £50 and the details transferred to a magnetic strip on a fake card.