Credit card fraud hotspots revealed

South-East London is the UK's credit card fraud capital, according to research.

A report from The 3rd Man group, an agency which specialises in screening credit card transactions, named Woolwich, Thamesmead and Plumstead as having the highest levels of fraud in the country.

Of one million transactions monitored in these three areas, 16,000 were found to be fraudulent, totalling an estimated £18m in 'bad' transactions.

According to The 3rd Man, transactions where the card is not seen by the retailer - for example, when goods are purchased online or over the phone - are the most prone to fraud.

This phenomenon is known as CNP - or Card Not Present - fraud.

"Fraudsters show no signs of giving up. They know that online shopping has become big business and they try every scam imaginable to dupe retailers," said Andrew Goodwill, fraud specialist at The 3rd Man.

"More and more honest people are using their cards to buy over the internet, but unfortunately more and more fraudsters are also upping their game," Goodwill continued.

Nottingham, Manchester, Romford, Coventry and Birmingham were also shown to have higher than average levels of credit card fraud in the study.

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