Key takeaways from the EBA and ECB joint 2025 report on payment fraud

The report reveals that total fraud reached €4.2 billion in 2024 — a 17% increase over the previous year in terms of total value— primarily driven by fraudulent credit transfers (€2.5 billion, up 24%) and card payments (€1.3 billion, up 4%). However, fraudulent card payments remain significantly higher in terms of transaction volumes (compared to fraudulent payments through other methods), suggesting that fraudsters may exploit exemptions to Strong Customer Authentication (SCA).

Fraud data further shows that remote transactions are the preferred method for fraud initiation and that manipulation of payers to authorise fraudulent credit transfers is on the rise (more particularly for credit transfers).

In addition, the report explains that while SCA has had a positive impact—SCA secured transactions exhibit lower fraud rates, particularly for cards—its limited application in certain scenarios (e.g., only ~40% of card payments but mainly due to the possibility to rely upon exemptions from SCA) and higher fraud risks in non SCA or cross border transactions underscore lingering vulnerabilities.

Finally, the report shows that liability for fraud varies by payment type and country: payment service users bore 85% of credit transfer fraud losses and a significant share of losses from cards, direct debits, and cash withdrawals, with cross border fraud (especially outside the EEA) more prevalent and often less protected.

We can anticipate that these findings will play a critical role in the final stages of EU negotiations on the PSD3/PSR package, where fraud prevention is a key priority.

Coinciding with the report’s release, the three European Supervisory Authorities published two factsheets aiming at raising consumer’s awareness of the most common fraud and scam schemes and providing advice on how to protect themselves. One factsheet specifically addresses AI-powered fraud and scams, making it particularly relevant for payment fraud prevention strategies.