Fraudulent use of plastic cards reached record levels last year, peaking £424.6m.
According to the Association of Payment Clearing Services, approximately £1m worth of credit or debit card fraud is committed every day, with a criminal transaction every eight seconds.
Counterfeit fraud stood out as the forerunner - where criminal gangs have become involved in "skimming" and duplicating genuine credit card numbers.
Counterfeiting card fraud cost the industry £148.5m last year and the credit card industry also lost £108.3m from cards that were lost or stolen.
Gangs to finance other criminal activities such as drugs and counterfeit goods often use profits.
The "hotspot" of card crime was around Greater London, where fraudulent transactions totalled £95m in 2002, followed by Birmingham, where card fraud totalled £8m, and Manchester, where card fraud totalled £6.2m.
The association also confirmed that an anti-fraud programme would begin next month in Northampton. It is hoped the EMV standard which is being slowly adopted across Europe, which requires consumers to enter a Personal Identification Number (PIN) instead of a signature, will aid in cutting back fraud.
