Efforts to mitigate the extent of payment fraud may be having some effect - the latest collation of data by the Australian Payments Clearing Association reveals a small decline in the value of losses over the year to June 2012.APCA put fraud losses on payment instruments at A$285 million, down from $302 million in the year to June 2011.This translates into losses of 15.6 cents per $1000 for transactions made in the past year, down from 16.3 cent per $1000 six months before. In the most problematic category, credit card fraud, this ratio was 87.7 cents per $1000 in 2012, down from 96.3 cents per $1000 in the year to December 2011.The roll out of chip-based credit cards and the upgrade of the Eftpos terminal fleet to the EMV standard may be having an effect, with more than 90 per cent of terminals now being compliant.  Some merchant categories remain a target for fraudsters. APCA said there was "an increase in skimming activity at ATMs, in petrol stations and in taxis."As reported in Banking Day last week, independent supermarkets aligned with Metcash featured among businesses targeted over the last two years by one overseas syndicate.Banks and police allege that the Romanian-based syndicate had access to 500,000 Australian credit cards, with approximately 30,000 credit card details being misused for fraudulent transactions that amounted to more than $30 million.