Over a fifth (21%) of UK adults have had their payment card cancelled or replaced as a result of attempted fraud during the past 12 months, according to research by comparethemarket.com.
Based on a survey of over 2000 consumers, the study found people are most likely to be defrauded when making online payments, with 21% of respondents admitting this is how they were hacked. Over one in ten (11%) said their account was compromised by a card skimmer, while just four percent of victims said their card was physically stolen.
In the majority of cases (51%), the breach resulted in money being stolen, with victims losing an average of £846 each.
In over a third of cases (37%), people who had their cards compromised did not know or couldn’t remember how the hack occurred.
John Crossley, head of money at comparethemarket.com says: "Latest figures show that online sales now represent 18% of total UK retail sales, so around Black Friday and Cyber Monday customers should be extra vigilant, especially as our research suggests that fraudsters are becoming more and more sophisticated online."