Survey: Consumers Concerned about Card Security Even as Fraud Rate Falls

Efforts by financial institutions to secure card payments and prevent fraud appear to be paying off, according to a recent survey commissioned by Transaction Network Services. Forty-six percent of Americans believed their payment data has been put at risk by a data breach, down from 60 percent in 2015.

Meanwhile, 23 percent of Americans said they saw fraudulent use of their debit or credit card in the previous two years, down from 32 percent in 2015. The rate reporting fraudulent card use in the previous five years fell nearly 10 points from 2015 to 2017 to 29 percent. Figures from 2015 may have been skewed by recent memory of large high-profile retail data breaches, including those at Target and Home Depot.

According to the survey, 66 percent of U.S. consumers believe that the retailer is responsible for protecting card data at the point of sale. Retail breaches have left a lingering distrust of point-of-sale payment security, with just 49 percent of consumers saying their data is more secure when buying in-store than over the phone or online.