Of late consumers in UK are facing financial crunch due to the escalated fuel and food costs and falling global economy. Also, they are very much concerned about the current employment situation and economic development and are willing to spend more than what their income permits. With raising claimant count, the lenders have fixed up more stringent borrowing conditions for giving credit. As a result, consumers are seeking expensive credit and are facing tough terms and conditions. Though people tend to spend less, there has been a marked increase in high cost credit. With rising inflation, people quickly use their salaries and are forced to make purchases with their credit cards to meet their routine monthly expenses. As credit card companies in UK are unable to check and verify applicants’ income meticulously due to the large number of credit card users, the number of unscrupulous people holding credit cards is increasing alarmingly.

It is said that London is the hotspot of credit card fraud in UK and incidents of plastic fraud are on the rise due to the large number of credit card holders in London. However, recently, there has been increasing awareness amid people about the credit card frauds and they have started following some precautions while using credit cards. Also, with the introduction of debit cards which contains many of the features of credit cards, most people have switched over to debit card and use them extensively for their daily requirements. The unique difference between credit card and debit card is that in a debit card the cash is debited from the current account of the user and hence there is no debt to face and also there are no processing charges. Thus, people are increasingly tempted to use debit card more than credit card as they are unable to afford high cost borrowings anymore.

On the other hand, internet commerce expects web users to key in credit card information when they make purchase online. But, the consumers are worried about the safety and security of the financial data they provide when they do online shopping. At the same time, the industry has been trying hard to boost confidence and trustworthiness of the online shopper through numerous security systems. Intelligence sharing initiatives between banks and the police supported by sophisticated database is giving better results. The Home Office of UK firmly supports these data sharing measures to prevent online frauds and also made provisions to legalize the data sharing between private and public sectors. Several initiatives have proved very useful in reducing fraud which includes the squashing of chip and pin and wide promotion of secure payment methods. The Fraud Intelligence Bureau formed by the banking industry which is a combination of law enforcement agency, banking industry and intelligence sector unit dedicated for Cheque and Plastic Crime is working hard to improve information sharing between these agencies.

Awareness amongst consumers about the simple security procedures involved in online shopping is very low and only when they know how to figure out the secured sites, the credit card fraud will decrease. A golden padlock on the bottom of the page of the site can be used to check the authenticity of the site and when they right click the lock, they can find out whether the website owner and the certification match each other.