FRAUDSTERS have fleeced nearly £20 million from online shoppers in Coventry in a single
year by stealing credit card details.

The city is ranked eighth in the country as recording millions of pounds being taken from unsuspecting victims.

The figures have been obtained by the Times from the 3rd Man group, a specialist card not present (CNP) fraud screening company, who said they are experiencing significant growth in online fraud.

In Coventry from August 1, 2008 to July 31, 2009, the company uncovered 6,720 cases of online fraud – amounting to £19.4million being taken from customers.

Criminals use personal information including bank details, email and homes addresses and telephone numbers to make purchases online.

Andrew Goodwill, of 3rd Man, said: “We see 20 per cent of the market place so this figure needs to be multiplied by five to get a more accurate picture.

“We screen online transactions on the payments page, which includes looking at telephone numbers, delivery addresses and email addresses to see if there are any changes and let the retailer know if there are any problems.

“Everything is looked at when products or services are bought on the internet, this includes small purchases such as music downloads to bigger things like holidays.

“We look for good and bad information.

“The company has been going since 2001 and since then we have seen a year on year increase on the amount of fraudulent cases.

“This is partly due to an increase in the number of people buying things online.

“But criminals also see it as a faceless crime and are becoming more attracted to it. It’s something police forces across the country aren’t really looking into either.”

People in Coventry spent £106million online in one year with the CV6 area having the highest spend of £50 million.

But the city centre also had the highest rate of fraudulent transactions. Of 36,886 online sales, 2,412 were criminal.

CV5 had the lowest number of cases – 196 out of 60,670 were fake.

Mr Goodwill added: “Coventry is a hot spot because of the amount of addresses that have been used for the delivery for the goods in Coventry.

“Those could’ve been ordered anywhere in the world, so it suggests hackers must be complicit in the crime.”

A senior lecturer at Coventry University said the figures were “scary reading”.

Dr Qin Zhou, computer forensics lecturer, said: “The figures are quite scary and means that people in Coventry are not very security aware, but should be as millions of pounds are being taken without people knowing.

“There are many ways hackers can get people’s details so we must always be careful.

“Sometimes when you download software the user is unaware that a second programme may also be on your computer.

“This records all keystrokes made by a user and means all sorts of details such as credit card numbers, security questions and addresses are being taken without anyone knowing.

“The best way to prevent this is to always buy from a reputable site, ensure it is safe before putting in any personal details and to make sure you use virus protection on your computer and do regular updates.”

Have you been a victim of credit card fraud? If so contact the Times by calling 02476 500398 or email priya_mistry@mrn.co.uk.