Postcode area named a card crime hotspot

11:09am Thursday 24th July 2008

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BANK card crime in DA potcodes is among the worst in the country, according to a new report.

Fraud specialist firm The 3rd Man has teamed up with directory company 192business.com to publish research listing the major hotspots for card fraud.

The study found DA postcodes were the 10th worst area for fraudulent card transactions in the UK.

A total of 1,400 of the 229,914 card transactions made in the area proved to be fraudulent.

Postcodes DA1, DA11, DA17 and DA18 were particular hotspots, while DA8 topped the list with 630 examples of card fraud among its 16,048 transactions.

The 3rd Man director Andrew Goodwill said: "The best advice I can give is to use a credit card instead of a debit card.

"A fraudster can only steal money from the bank if it's a credit card, but a debit card thief can empty your bank account."

Mr Goodwill said: "These frauds can easily be stopped with policing.

"Previous studies found Liverpool and Kilmarnock to be hotspots.

"But after heavy policing to tackle the issue, these areas are nowhere near as bad as they used to be."

The study was based on an analysis of more than 30 million internet and mail order transactions made in the UK between January and June.

A computer system scanned each transaction for discrepancies in relation to previous use of the card and pinpointed the exact location of the purchase.

The worst area in the country was found to be Thamesmead, with 2,203 fraudulent transactions out of 15,907.

For more information, visit the3rdman.co.uk