33 million Americans victimized by card fraud in 2017

Around 15% of cardholders have fallen victim to debit or credit card fraud, and 12% had at least one card purchase declined in the past 12 months. Based on the estimated number of Americans who use at least one debit or credit card, that translates to 26 million people who were turned down for a purchase. The number of respondents who had a card purchase declined or experienced card fraud totaled 1,047. The second-most cited reason among credit cardholders (28.7%) and debit cardholders (16.6%) who were declined is that their banks fraud protection service denied the transaction.

The report also revealed that more than two-thirds (69%) of the victims surveyed said that someone tried to make an online purchase with their account information, even though they had the card in their possession when they first discovered the fraud. Although the majority of fraud victims said they were alerted to a card breach by their card issuer or credit monitoring service, thats not always the case. More than one-third (37%) of the card victims in the survey first learned about the potential fraud themselves by reviewing their account statements.

Consumers are advised to initiate a credit freeze, which is a good tool against credit card fraud. This prevents anyone from accessing one’s credit report to open an account (the account can still be accessed for other purposes, such as checking your credit history).