U.S. card fraud in 2012 rose 14.5 percent year over year to $5.33 billion

for all general purpose and private label, signature and PIN payment cards, according to payment industry newsletter The Nilson Report. U.S. card fraud accounted for 47 percent of the 2012 total of $11.3 billion in global card fraud losses. Nilson attributed the high U.S. fraud share to several factors including low cash use and the absence of chip-and-PIN cards and terminals. "The U.S. is the only region where counterfeit card fraud continues to grow consistently," according to the report. The United States also had a high level of counterfeit "card-not-present" transactions as it "leads the world in online sales," according to the report.