Filenews 16 December 2025 - by Vassos Vassiliou
European authorities continue to place a significant weight on financial fraud, as shown by the joint report of the European Central Bank and the European Banking Authority entitled "2025 report payment fraud", with data concerning 2024.
As it is characteristically noted, "strong identity verification remains effective, but fraudsters are adapting". Although the number of victims of financial fraud is increasing, the absolute figures remain extremely small in total transactions. This does not change the picture that some of our fellow citizens in Cyprus and in the rest of Europe lost part of their money because they were victims of financial fraud.
In 2024, the payment fraud rate in the European Economic Area remained stable, around 0.002% of the total value of transactions. The total value of the fraud increased to €4.2 billion. in 2024, from €3.5 billion. in 2023.
In addition, the report shows that the distribution of fraud losses differed by means of payment and there were significant differences across the European area. For 2024, total losses for credit transfers were €2.20 billion. (an increase of 16% year-on-year) and for card payments issued in Europe were €1.32 billion. (an increase of 29% year-on-year).
For credit transfers, payment service users bore about 85% of total fraud losses in 2024. The statistics record for Cyprus that the amount of fraud in credit transfer was €2,718,844, i.e. a percentage of 0.001%, while another €2,251,185 is numbered by fraud with plastic money, i.e. a percentage of 0.015%.
In terms of transaction volumes, the credits for fraud amounted to 26,752. The report states that the lowest absolute level of fraud was observed in Liechtenstein (8 fraudulent transactions worth €174,415). In terms of fraud rates, the highest was observed in Slovenia with 0.006% in terms of value, while Lithuania accounted for the highest fraud rate in terms of volumes (0.015%).
Similarly, low fraud rates were observed in direct debits in almost all countries, with the exception of Slovakia. In fact, thirteen countries reported zero fraud in this means of payment. The highest levels of fraud were reported for France, with over 52,000 fraudulent transactions in volume, and Germany, totalling €72.2 million, in value.
In relative terms, Slovakia had the highest rate of fraud in volume (0.011%) and the highest rate of fraud in value (0.044%). Cash withdrawals experienced generally low fraud rates across countries in 2024, with some exceptions. The highest rates of fraud in value were observed in Denmark (0.070%) and France (0.033%). In contrast, very low levels of fraud were observed in Romania and Liechtenstein, both of which reported 0.000%. In terms of volume, the highest fraud rates were recorded in France (0.012%), Lithuania (0.011%) and Estonia (0.002%).
In absolute terms, according to the report, between 2022 and 2024, fraud was highest in credit transfers and card payments. In 2024, the total value of fraudulent credit transfers reached €2.5 billion which represents an increase of 24% compared to 2023. Prices reported for card fraud show a 4% increase from 2023 to 2024, with funds stolen using cards issued in the European Economic Area reaching a total of €1.3 billion in 2024.
The report breaks down the types of card fraud, and the largest share is due to card information theft. In 2024, theft of card details in fraudulent transactions accounted for over 56% of the total value (approximately 65% in volume).
