This is how many Londoners have been a victim of card fraud in the past year, and we’re running scared from contactless as a result
Although the queue to get to card readers on your commute may beg to differ, Londoners are becoming increasingly terrified to tap.
One in five Londoners (20 per cent) has fallen victim to card fraud in the past year, leading many to question the city's love of contactless payment, a survey released yesterday has found.
According to the research by Defender Note, 22 per cent of London-dwellers feel that contactless cards make committing fraud too easy, while 29 per cent feel these modern methods for payment are more risky compared with their contact-required counterparts.
Defender Note warned that the technology in contactless cards means that they can be skimmed – a process where a radio-frequency identification chip reading device is used to lift details from cards.
Read more: Soon you will be able to use contactless everywhere
"Contactless card fraud is rising fast and official figures are only the tip of the iceberg," said Morgan Rothwell, director of Defender Note. "Most skimming victims will have no idea they’ve been robbed until they check their bank statement, and many cases will not be detected at all."
However, research published in February by The UK Cards Association indicates that not everybody has been put off by the risk of fraud, as spending on contactless cards reached £7.8bn in 2015, up 233 per cent from £2.3bn in 2014.