Credit and debit card fraud losses in the UK rose 25% to reach £535.2m in 2007, figures from APACS, the UK payments association, show.
The increase is largely attributed to a £90.5m rise in overseas fraud by criminals who steal account details in the UK and make counterfeit cards for use in countries yet to upgrade to Chip and PIN.
Fraud abroad now accounts for more than one-third of total card fraud losses, APACS said. Card-not-present fraud losses increased by 37%, and cheque fraud by 10%.
Last month APACS announced the establishment of a joint payment industry and police intelligence unit to tackle card and cheque crime. The unit's 15-strong workforce includes banking industry fraud specialists and police forces.
The news came as six members of a UK card cloning gang were sentenced to a total of more than 50 years in jail.