Half of the respondents in a 14-country survey about fraud concerns cited cards as their main worry, yet 10% of them in the U.S. said they carry their PINs with those same cards.
The findings by the December survey of 4,200 respondents was sponsored by payments processor ACI Worldwide, which said the findings highlighted both fraud fears and the need for fraud prevention education.
The survey found that 21% of the Italian respondents said they had carried their card PIN with them–a violation of a "cardinal rule" of card safety, the company said–a number that rose to 23% in India and 27% in China. Meanwhile, nearly 20% of the American respondents also said they still throw bank statements and receipts in the trash can, ACI said.
"When it comes to fraud, prevention is obviously better than a cure. Financial institutions need to continue to inform consumers about how they can protect themselves against fraud," said Jasbir Anand, lead solutions consultant at ACI Worldwide.
Also in the U.S., 74% of consumers said tough economic times have increased their concern about fraud, while 58% think card fraud is increasing and 65% worry more about using their cards online.
Anand said the survey also showed consumers are very concerned about fraud as a social problem. "Globally, 15% of cardholders said their biggest fear about card fraud was their money being used to fund organized crime, compared to just 10% whose main concern was damage to their own individual credit rating," the ACI consultant said.
The online survey was conducted by Research Now in December and included 300 respondents each from Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Dubai, France, Germany, India, Italy, Netherlands, Singapore, Sweden, Great Britain and the United States.
ACI Worldwide’s Americas headquarters is in Elkhorn, Neb., and the company said it provides more than 800 customers with payment processing, risk management, back-office automation and application infrastructure services.
