The European Banking Authority (EBA) and the European Central Bank (ECB) have released their 2025 report, detailing how fraudsters are adapting and reporting an increase in fraud rates.

Overview of Data

Covering semi-annual data from 2022 to 2024, the joint EBA-ECB report highlights that while strong customer authentication (SCA) introduced in 2020 has helped reduce overall fraud rates, continuous monitoring and adapting security measures are necessary due to emerging types of fraud.

Methodology

To derive these findings, the EBA and ECB analyzed payment fraud data reported by the industry across the European Economic Area (EEA), totaling EUR 3.4 billion in 2022, increasing to EUR 4.2 billion in 2024. The report also breaks down fraudulent transactions based on various means of payment, such as credit transfers, direct debits, card payments, cash withdrawals, and e-money transactions. Breakdowns by country are included as well.

Impact of SCA

The report notes that SCA significantly reduced the susceptibility to fraud for most transactions, especially card payments. For non-EU residents receiving card payments within the EEA, the risk was particularly high at 17 times compared to those with SCA in place.

This positive effect of SCA is attributed to EU Payment Services Directive (PSD2) revisions and supporting technical standards issued by the EBA, in collaboration with the ECB, in 2018.

Emerging Fraud Types

In addition to higher fraud rates, the analysis identified new types of fraud targeting transactions that benefit from SCA exemptions or manipulating legitimate users into authenticating fraudulent payments.