Card-not-present fraud – usually conducted over the phone or internet - fell 18 per cent to £134m in the six months to June 2009, from £163.9m in the previous six months, according to figures from Financial Fraud Action UK.

The group said the increasing use of sophisticated fraud detection tools by retailers and banks, as well as continuing growth in the use of authentication software such as MasterCard SecureCode and Verified by Visa by online retailers and cardholders have improved security.

But online banking fraud losses totalled £39m during the six months to June 2009 – a 55 per cent rise on the 2008 figure.

Katy Worobec, head of fraud control, said: "While industry online security initiatives such as Verified by Visa and MasterCard SecureCode may be making their presence felt, the fraudsters are never going to shut up shop and, of course, there are emerging areas such as online banking fraud which has risen again."

Worobec said the increase is largely due to criminals employing more sophisticated methods to target online banking customers through malware scams – which target vulnerabilities in customers’ PCs - rather than the banks’ own systems, which have proved more difficult for the fraudsters to attack.

There were more than 26,000 phishing incidents during January to June 2009 – a 26 per cent increase on the amount seen in the same period last year.

Banks say they are working with government initiatives such as Bank Safe Online and Get Safe Online to try to stamp out online banking fraud.

Some such as Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds TSB have introduced two-factor authentication, which provides real-time passwords for online banking, while others such as HSBC say they are concentrating on back-office fraud detection.

Banks do not release individual fraud figures.