Consumers realize credit card fraud generally happens offline

While 76% of respondents said credit card fraud is either a moderate or major concern, only 69% of respondents felt the same way about online credit card fraud. The results are from a survey of 943 American credit card holders fielded last week who were asked their opinions about credit card security, both online and offline, as well as about their experiences with credit card fraud. Credit card fraud is still a major concern to 4 in 10 Americans - both online and offline. 42% of respondents expressed serious worries about credit card security, and consider fraud a major concern. Nearly the same number of Americans (41%) consider online credit card fraudulence a major concern and 38% of respondents said they are less likely to make an Internet purchase because of those anxieties.

The apprehension seems to be justified: 12% of respondents to the Ipsos-Insight survey said they have been the victims of credit card fraud. The number of people who reported knowing someone who had been a victim of fraud as a result of a stolen credit card concurs with the recent estimate from the Federal Trade Commission that 27.3 million Americans have been the victims of identity theft in the last five years.