According to the recent ACI commissioned survey as reported on this website, 81% of the 4,200 respondents, in the 14 countries surveyed, have confidence in the ability of their bank of financial institution to protect them - despite the prevalence of card fraud.  I agree with the comment made by David Divitt of ACI; this is a great statistic and reflects the time, energy, commitment, and funding put into battling such fraud by the private sector - as well as the focus and dedication of law enforcement agencies.  There is no argument that, from this perspective, card fraud is taken seriously.

Yet it would be great if governments would play their part too, by better understanding that Financial Crime (and Payment Card Fraud in particular) is something that is of great concern to the vast majority of their people, and not just a problem for the industry.  In many countries the penalties for convictions for financial crime are weak, and therefore not a real deterrent to the criminals (often organised criminal gangs) that commit such offences.

If the pundits are right, and cash is (increasingly) no longer king, electronic payments are in the ascendant, which means increased usage of payment cards.  As a consequence payment card fraud will continue to increase as a problem for both the industry and society - to counter this, perhaps related punishments should now be reviewed .......and where applicable increased to levels commensurate with the seriousness of such crimes. 

As well as being distressing and inconvenient for cardholders and society, and expensive and time consuming for the industry and law enforcement, such crime also generates proceeds that can be used for the finance of global terrorism, and other sinister agendas.  Now is the time for governments to recognise this, and for a tougher stand to be taken by legislators and the judiciary against the perpetrators.