LONDON, ENGLAND - According to data released earlier this week from the U.K. Cards Association, fraud loss on U.K. credit and debit cards dropped 28% in 2009, the first annual decline since 2006, the U.K. Payments Administration reports.

The U.K. Cards Association attributed the sharp drop in fraud to the introduction of chip and pin in recent years. As a result, fraud on lost and stolen cards dropped to ?47.9 million, its lowest level for two decades, and counterfeit card fraud plunged 52% to ?80.9 million, its lowest level since 1999.

Additional findings include:

• Fraud losses at U.K. retailers fell 27%
• U.K. cash machine fraud was down 20%
• Fraud on cards intercepted in the mail declined 32%

The group said that sophisticated fraud detection tools used by retailers and banks, as well as the growth of security systems such as MasterCard SecureCode and Verified by Visa, also beefed up card security.

All news was not favorable, though: Online banking fraud increased to ?59.7 for the year, a result of more sophisticated malware and phishing attacks that criminals employed to attack consumers' computers.