Consumers worldwide worry about card fraud while many of themstill carry PINs with them.

These are among the findings of a December survey of 4,200respondents in 14 countries that was sponsored by paymentsprocessor ACI Worldwide, which said the findings highlighted bothfraud fears and the need for fraud prevention education.

The survey found that 21% of the Italian respondents said theyhad carried their card PIN with them–a violation of a “cardinalrule” of card safety, the company said–a number that rose to 23% inIndia and 27% in China.

Meanwhile, only 10% of American respondents said they carriedPIN numbers while nearly 20% said they still throw bank statementsand receipts in the trash can, ACI said.

“When it comes to fraud, prevention is obviously better than acure. Financial institutions need to continue to informconsumers about how they can protect themselves against fraud,”said Jasbir Anand, lead solutions consultant at ACI Worldwide.

The online survey was conducted by Research Now in December andincluded 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., andthe company said it provides more than 800 customers with paymentprocessing, risk management, back-office automation and applicationinfrastructure services.