Since the first confinement, contactless payment, which had experienced a spectacular increase, has become the mode “the mode of payment preferred by users” who have not returned to their behavior before the coronavirus crisis, noted the Banque de France, this Tuesday.
Praised “because of the fluidity of payment and the reduction in physical contact”, contactless now represents half of card payments against a third before the crisis, notes the annual report of the Observatory for the security of means of payment.In addition to this, you will need to know more about it.
A ceiling of 30 to 50 euros
This “massive adoption” was notably enabled by the increase in the payment ceiling from 30 to 50 euros in May 2020, which had raised fears of an increase in fraud. “Contactless is developing a lot and the (fraud) rate is falling”, reaching “its historic low”, welcomed François Villeroy de Galhau, the Governor of the Banque de France, on the occasion of the presentation report to the press. In 2020, the rate of contactless payment fraud fell to 0.013%, compared to 0.019% in 2019, with a total amount of fraud of nearly 10.5 million euros.
Contactless fraud “results essentially from the theft or loss of the card”, two phenomena which have diminished with successive confinements and the closure of many points of sale, notes the report. The online payment fraud rate has remained stable at 0.174%, in particular thanks to the spread of strong authentication system, while Internet purchases have exploded with the health crisis.
No more check fraud
Overall, the card fraud rate has stabilized at 0.068%. “We are touching a bottom,” after eight years of decline, commented the governor of the Banque de France. Conversely, the check, whose use fell by more than 25% in 2020, saw a “significant” increase in fraud, to 0.088%, against 0.068% in 2019.
The check, with one euro of fraud for 1,140 euros of operations, “remains the first means of payment the most defrauded in France both in terms of rate and amount”, warns the institution. Finally, the transfer has also seen an increase in fraud, particularly through identity theft, although it remains one of the least defrauded means of payment, with a rate of 0.0008%, or one euro. of fraud for 125,000 euros of payment. Direct debit fraud has almost disappeared.