Fraud Statistics Jan 22 - Dec 22
In 2022, card fraud increased in line with the rise in total spending on cards
According to the 2023 Australian Payment Fraud Report, in 2022, fraud on payment card transactions increased by 16.5% on the previous year to $577 million, in line with the increase in total spending on cards, which was up by 16% to $1 trillion over the same period. The rate of fraud on Australian card payments was 57.5 cents per $1,000 spent, up slightly from 57.3 cents in 2021.
The data indicates that the fraud rate has stabilised since the introduction of the industry’s card-not-present (CNP) Fraud Mitigation Framework (CNP Framework) in 2019, with the 2022 fraud rate remaining well below the fraud rate of 75.0 cents per $1,000 spent in 2017.
The CNP Framework requires merchants who consistently exceed agreed fraud threshold targets to strengthen customer authentication and apply other measures. The framework also encourages secure technologies such as real-time monitoring, machine learning and tokenisation.
AusPayNet sponsors the Economic Crime Forum (ECF), which brings together industry, law enforcement and government stakeholders to coordinate joint responses to economic crime, including scams, fraud, financial crime, and banking-related cyber incidents.
For more information on the data and payment fraud trends, read the 2023 Australian Payment Fraud Report below and the accompanying media release.
- Fraud on lost and stolen cards increased by 44.5% to $41.8 million
- Counterfeit/skimming fraud increased by 30% to $7.1 million
- Card-not-present (CNP) fraud increased by 14.4% to $516.8 million
- Cheque fraud decreased by 24% to $2.4 million
Fraud Perpetrated on Australian Cheques and Cards
1 January 2022 - 31 December 2022
| Fraud Transactions | Total Transactions | Fraud Rates | ||||
| Number | Value | Number (millions) | Value (millions) | as % of total no. of transactions | as % of total value ($) of transactions | |
| Cheques | 410 | $2,440,799 | 27 | $371,435 | 0.0015% | 0.0008% |
| Australian-issued cards | 4,597,479 | $577,392,394 | 13,989 | $1,003,698 | 0.0329% | 0.0575% |
| Proprietary debit cards | 73,872 | $11,637,699 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Scheme credit, debit and charge cards | 4,523,607 | $565,754,695 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Total | 4,597,889 | $579,833,193 | 14,016 | $1,321,133 | 0.0328% | 0.0439% |
Cheque Fraud Perpetrated in Australia
1 January 2022 - 31 December 2022
| Category | Actual | Exposure | Recoveries* |
| On-Us Fraud | Transactions | Value ($) | Transactions | Value ($) | Value ($) |
| Valueless | 3 | 54,620 | 203 | 6,477,769 | 978,930 |
| Fraudulently Altered | 64 | 469,045 | 281 | 489,534,469 | 175,873 |
| Stolen Blank Cheque / Book | 278 | 1,125,849 | 1,287 | 8,091,056 | 1,267,846 |
| Originated Counterfeit Cheques | 45 | 605,955 | 106 | 954,177 | -103,322 |
| Non-originated Counterfeit Cheques | 11 | 139,428 | 79 | 5,406,583 | 1,096,151 |
| Breach of Mandate | 5 | 3,765 | 28 | 573,677 | 0 |
| On-Us Total | 406 | 2,398,662 | 1,984 | 511,037,731 | 3,415,478 |
| Deposit Fraud | |||||
| Valueless | 3 | 25,230 | 263 | 16,122,807 | 312,608 |
| Valueless - Kite Flying | 1 | 16,907 | 11 | 380,686 | 46,000 |
| Third Party Conversion | 0 | 0 | 401 | 4,040,373 | 716,797 |
| Deposit Total | 4 | 42,137 | 675 | 20,543,866 | 1,075,405 |
| Total | 410 | 2,440,799 | 2,659 | 531,581,597 | 4,490,883 |
* Data on the 'transactions' of recoveries is not collected.
“Actual” losses can relate to “Exposure” during an earlier period. This explains why, in some reporting periods, actual losses may exceed exposure.
Proprietary Debit Card Fraud Perpetrated in Australia
1 January 2022 - 31 December 2022
| Category | Transactions | Value |
| Debit Card Fraud – PIN Used: | ||
| Lost/Stolen | 15,220 | 3,261,933 |
| Never Received | 844 | 300,266 |
| Counterfeit/Skimming | 9,017 | 3,091,290 |
| Other | 5,218 | 1,770,980 |
| PIN Used Total | 30,299 | 8,424,469 |
| Debit Card Fraud – PIN Not Used: | ||
| Lost/Stolen | 30,172 | 1,724,749 |
| Never Received | 3,666 | 199,429 |
| Counterfeit/Skimming | 841 | 68,403 |
| Other | 8,894 | 1,220,649 |
| PIN Not Used Total | 43,573 | 3,213,230 |
| Total Debit Card Fraud | 73,872 | 11,637,699 |
Note: For fraudulent transactions initiated at ATMs, POS terminals and other devices, the above statistics incorporate all transactions where either "cheque" or "savings" was selected, regardless of the type of card used (that is debit card, 'combo’ card, scheme card etc). The number of fraud transactions does not represent the number of cards or consumers affected. Typically, multiple fraud transactions are made on a single card.
Scheme Credit, Debit and Charge Card Fraud
Perpetrated in Australia and Overseas on Australia-issued Cards
1 January 2022 - 31 December 2022
| Category | In Australia | Overseas | Total |
| Transactions | Value ($) | Transactions | Value ($) | Transactions | Value ($) | |
| Lost / Stolen | 268,935 | 24,018,744 | 79,327 | 12,760,322 | 348,262 | 36,779,067 |
| Never Received | 7,916 | 1,022,948 | 448 | 55,971 | 8,364 | 1,078,919 |
| Fraudulent Application | 2,474 | 693,688 | 1,820 | 156,657 | 4,294 | 850,344 |
| Counterfeit / Skimming | 13,385 | 1,985,561 | 14,103 | 1,973,644 | 27,488 | 3,959,205 |
| Card Not Present (CNP) | 2,225,262 | 276,935,802 | 1,883,443 | 239,898,940 | 4,108,705 | 516,834,742 |
| Other | 14,893 | 3,857,852 | 11,601 | 2,394,565 | 26,494 | 6,252,418 |
| Total | 2,532,865 | 308,514,596 | 1,990,742 | 257,240,099 | 4,523,607 | 565,754,695 |
Note: The number of fraud transactions does not represent the number of cards or consumers affected. Typically, multiple fraud transactions are made on a single card.
Fraud Perpetrated in Australia on Cards issued Overseas
| Category | Transactions | Value ($) |
| Lost / Stolen | 20,946 | 2,842,025 |
| Never Received | 1,129 | 164,876 |
| Fraudulent Application | 596 | 102,656 |
| Counterfeit / Skimming | 26,936 | 5,212,950 |
| Card Not Present (CNP) | 457,798 | 75,573,307 |
| Other | 6,987 | 1,447,813 |
| Total | 514,392 | 85,343,626 |
Note: The number of fraud transactions does not represent the number of cards or consumers affected. Typically, multiple fraud transactions are made on a single card.
