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CPP Card Fraud Experiment - Don’t lose your wallet!

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23/09/10 in Card Fraud/Theft | Fraud |

Have you ever lost your wallet or purse? If you have and you got it back then you’re one of the very lucky ones.

In the last five years, we estimate that over five million wallets have been lost with a further four million stolen. And the chances of getting them back are pretty slim. Although most people – 94 per cent to be exact – claim they would either hand in or return a lost wallet/purse, 77 per cent of people who said they had lost their wallet/purse never had it returned to them.

A 'live' CPP card fraud social experiment

CPP Card Fraud Experiment – Wallet

To put people’s honesty to the test, we decided to do a little social experiment that accidentally ‘dropped’ 100 wallets throughout five cities in the UK; our intention to see how many were returned to their rightful owner and whether their contents were returned intact.

The cities we targeted were Birmingham, Cardiff, Glasgow, Leeds and London.

The results backed up the fact that if you lose your wallet or purse you’re unlikely to ever see it again. Out of 100 wallets accidentally ‘dropped’ only two in ten were returned home and only half of those (55 per cent) contained the original sum of money.

So should we be worried if we lose our wallet or purse?

Well we all know that losing our wallets or purses is a hugely inconvenient thing to happen; not only can you lose your bank cards, driving licence, membership and store/loyalty cards, but photos and other sentimental items also go missing.

When we asked people what was the most stressful part of being robbed, naturally the ‘act’ of the theft came top, but worries over card fraud were also high. This isn’t surprising given that card fraud in the UK last year totalled more than £440m and identity fraud is a growing problem that affects more and more people every year. Our research also found out that, on average:

  • People lost £85 cash and had over £7,000 worth of credit in their missing wallets, credit that could be fraudulently spent online.
  • Last year card-not-present fraud (where the cardholder isn’t physically present) exceeded £266m and was the worst type of card fraud in the UK.

So, if you lose your wallet or purse, you have to get it cancelled straightaway.

Inconvenience and stress

The process of cancelling your debit and credit cards was also considered to be really stressful by people who’d had their wallets and purses stolen or lost. As well as the huge inconvenience and general stress, people were no doubt worried about fraud and the need to call their bank or credit card companies as soon as possible. When already in a flap, not knowing who to call, only makes matters worse.

Regionally Birmingham fared worst in our live experiment. Only 25 per cent of lost wallets were returned and all were completely empty! Next came Glasgow, Cardiff and Leeds. Surprisingly London fared better with all those wallets returned still containing the original contents including the money.

If you are going to lose your wallet or purse, the best place to do it is in a museum as around half (53 per cent) were retuned to their rightful owner. Beware if you are in a cafe or restaurant or travelling on public transport though as the chances of getting them back are pretty much zero.

Whatever the latest fraud scam, it is clear that people lose their wallets and purses and do have them stolen. The inconvenience and stress is real and anything you can do to plan for such an eventuality will help, as you are, unfortunately, unlikely to ever see your missing property again.

For more information on fraud visit our helpful information page, or contact us.

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