The latest figures released by the UK payments association Apacs have revealed that online banking fraud has increased by 55%, despite the first overall decrease for 8 years.

Overall card fraud fell by 5% in the first 6 months of this year, mainly due to the rollout of Chip & Pin technology as a replacement for signatures. Although fraud involving lost or stolen cards decreased by 19% in the same period, it seems that the success of Chip & Pin has led criminals to target other areas for fraudulent activity.

Online banking fraud increased from £14.5 million in 2005 to £22.5 million this year, mainly due to a huge increase in the number of ‘phishing’ emails being sent. These are bogus emails that look like they have been sent by your bank, and encourage you to disclose financial details. Over 5,000 people were affected by such scams to the end of June, a whopping 1400% increase.

Although Chip & Pin has been hailed as an overall success in combating card fraud, there are now calls for consumers to take better steps to protect themselves and their personal information. Many people still make basic errors such as using the same password for multiple services, or disclosing their PIN to third parties.