Bank card fraud has fallen in Northern Ireland for the first time in a decade following the introduction of chip and pin technology, it was revealed today.
It plunged by 24 per cent last year, significantly better than the national fall of 13 per cent, according to APACS the trade association for users of payment services.
In Northern just £840,000 was lost - compared with a massive £439.4 million nationally.
However on one front - the use of stolen cards to make internet or phone purchases - there has been a 7 per cent rise.
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Revealing the figures, Andrew Fallis head of card development at Northern Bank said: "We've really made progress in fighting fraud - most of this is the impact of the introduction of chip and pin technology."
- Counterfeit card fraud - where an illegal copy of a genuine card is made by a skimming device - is down 38 per cent in the province - 25 per cent nationally - to £130,000.
- Lost and stolen card fraud is down 16 per cent - 22 per cent nationally — to £31,000. Most of such fraud is recorded in shops without chip and pin equipment and before the cardholder has reported the loss, said the bank.