Internet banking fraud, skimming drop substantially

The damage done by fraud during payment transactions decreased significantly in the Netherlands last year - from 33.3 million euros in 2013 to 17.3 million euros in 2014.

This is according to figures released by the Payments Association Netherlands and the Dutch Association of Banks today.

There was a considerable decrease in debit card skimming last year. The damage caused by skimming fell from 6.8 million euros in 2013 to less than 1.3 million euros last year - a decrease of 82 percent. Skimming has become unattractive to fraudsters due to the introduction of the EMV payment chip, "geo-blocking" pin codes outside Europe and additional anti-skimming measures. The biggest loss connected to debit cards is damage caused by lost or stolen cards - 3.3 million euros last year.

Losses due to internet banking fraud decreased by 51 percent, from 9.6 million euros in 2013 to 4.7 million euros last year. Damages caused by malware decreased by 90 percent to less than 500 thousand euros. This is because Dutch banks are getting better and better at automatically detecting and preventing malware. The most damage was caused by phishing - fraudsters gaining access to sensitive information such as usernames and passwords by pretending to be a trustworthy entity such as a bank. Damage caused by phishing amounted to 3.9 million euros last year, compared to 4.7 million euros in 2013.