AUSTIN, Texas–Credit and debit card fraud alerts are up 15% from two years ago, according to a new a new report.
The report, from CreditCards.com, found that 31% of U.S. adults have received a fraud alert regarding a credit card and 25% have received one concerning a debit card.
Thirty-seven percent of those who have been contacted about potentially fraudulent transactions say all the transactions were entirely legitimate purchases. Another 15% say most were legitimate, according to CreditCards.com.
“Despite the ubiquity of text messages and emails, most fraud alerts are still delivered by old-fashioned phone calls,” CreditCards.com said. “Fifty-three percent of those who have received a fraud alert report the most recent alert was delivered by a call, followed by 15% who had their card declined at the point of sale. Just 14% received a text message and 12% got an email.”
CreditCards.com added the “lack of texts is particularly surprising, because Visa and Mastercard branded cards are now required to let cardholders opt-in to receive alerts via text messages (as of October 2016 and April 2017, respectively). And while many 18-26-year-olds could hardly survive without their phones, they’re actually the least likely to receive fraud alerts by text (just 6% who have received a notification say the most recent one came via text).”
The likelihood of receiving a fraud alert increases with income, the survey found. Sixty-eight percent of those with annual household income of $75,000 or more have received such an alert, versus just 40% of those with income between $30,000-$49,999 and 26% with income under $30,000.
The same is true of educational attainment, the analysis found, with 65% of college graduates saying they have received a fraud notification, compared with 49% who attended some college and 25% who have a high school education or less.
“Fraudsters seem to be swinging for the fences, focusing their efforts on high-value targets,” said Matt Schulz, CreditCards.com’s senior industry analyst, in a statement. “And it’s not only more affluent and more educated households. Credit card limits typically exceed checking account balances. I think that’s why credit card fraud alerts outpace debit card alerts even though debit transactions outnumber credit transactions two to one.”
More about the survey can be found here: http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/credit-card-fraud-alert-poll.php