UK consumers lost £302m to card fraud in the first six months of this year, an increase of 14% compared with the first half of 2007, figures suggest.
The Association of Payment Clearing Services (APACS) said counterfeiting remained a major problem while 40% of total card fraud took place abroad.
Online banking fraud rose 185% during the period, year-on-year.
But losses at UK retailers and fraud from lost or stolen cards fell, largely due to chip and PIN technology.
Online fraud
Phone, internet and mail order shopping account for over half of all card fraud losses, although the rate of increase is falling.
"Criminals continue to target those areas where we do not currently have the security benefits of chip and PIN"
The marked jump in online banking fraud is largely due to 'phishing', a practise used by fraudsters who try to get unsuspecting members of the public to divulge their personal security information by posing as online banks or businesses.
More than 20,000 fraudulent phishing websites were set up in the first half of 2008.
Chip and PIN
Overseas losses have risen 190% in the past three years.
Typically, fraudsters will copy the magnetic strip data of a UK-issued card before creating a counterfeit card that can then be used in countries that have not upgraded to chip and PIN technology.
Sandra Quinn, director of communications at APACS, said: "Criminals continue to target those areas where we do not currently have the security benefits of chip and PIN, causing increases in fraud abroad and phone, internet and mail order shopping fraud."
WAYS TO PROTECT AGAINST ONLINE FRAUD
This type of fraud should become much harder to commit when the European banking industry rolls out chip cards in 2010.
Largely due to the introduction of chip and PIN technology, losses at UK retailers have fallen, from £73.2m between January and June 2005 to £47.4m between January and June this year.
APACS' advice to guard against fraud:
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