Hitesh Patel, KPMG Forensic talk about the escalation of fraud despite the introduction of chip and pin. The criminals are able to move to the weakest point in the system.

Why chip & Pin won't stop fraud | This is Money

The fastest growing area is 'cardholder not present' fraud. According to the  clearing banks' association Apacs, it shot up 29pc to £90m in the first six  months of 2005 and accounted for more than 40% of total card fraud losses.

Its worth noting the fraud escalation is not an intrinsic weakness in chip and pin. In fact we are not intruducing chip and pin, and will not be until circa 2015 at the earliest. Only then will the entire world be on chip and pin, and then we will see the strength of the technology.

Far from it. KPMG's latest Fraud Barometer found that it had rocketed to  nearly £1bn in 2005 – the highest level for a decade. The battle is far from  over and none of us can afford to relax.

The truth is that as antifraud measures evolve, so do the scams. Fraudsters  have moved on from stealing or skimming cards. Now their emphasis is on  identity fraud – obtaining your personal details and making remote purchases  over the internet or by phone.

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