Fraud levels in European payments are rising sharply, driven by well-resourced criminal networks leveraging the latest technology. Fraudsters are taking advantage of the 24/7 immediacy of instant payment rails and exploiting whichever channel presents the weakest defences.
In 2024 the total value of fraudulent credit transfers sent by PSPs in the European Union (EU) / European Economic Area (EEA) amounted to €2.5 billion, representing a fraud rate of 0.001%, according to the latest available data from the European Banking Authority and the European Central Bank (ECB).
Comparatively, the value of fraudulent card transactions in the EU/EEA amounted to €1.3 billion. For the SEPA Credit Transfers (SCT) and SEPA Instant Credit Transfers (SCT Inst) processed by its STEP2 and RT1 Systems, EBA CLEARING witnessed a similar trend.
Today’s fraud is driven by highly coordinated, well-resourced operations functioning with corporate-like scale and discipline, estimated to command a workforce of close to 1.5 million – making fraud globally a substantial and very complex threat to detect, disrupt and deter.
Mimicking trends seen in large institutions, these criminal organisations command substantial budgets to be spent on advertisements linked to scams or banned goods. As a result, users of major social and technology platforms are exposed to an estimated 15 billion scam ads every day.
Many also have highly efficient tools at their disposal: from generative artificial intelligence (AI) that translates and sustains conversations, to deepfake video calls and mirrored websites that convincingly imitate legitimate financial institutions (FIs). In one high-profile case, a finance employee at a multinational company was duped into transferring $25 million (€21.3 million) after fraudsters used deepfake technology to impersonate the chief financial officer (CFO) and other colleagues on a video call – all of whom were AI-generated fabrications.
The sophistication extends beyond technology deployed to the time being invested in individual scams. Romance scams, for example, involve criminals cultivating online relationships over months before coercing victims into fraudulent investments, often in cryptocurrency. One survey found average losses of $155,000 (€132,900), with many victims reporting that more than half of their net worth had been wiped out.
Fraud prevention: pan-european collaboration
Pan-European collaboration has become central to strengthening Europe’s fraud-prevention capabilities with the understanding that improving each stakeholder’s fraud prevention and detection capabilities will have a multiplying effect across the ecosystem, and thus benefit each player individually. For example, the European Payments Council (EPC)’s Malware Information Sharing Platform (MISP) provides a SEPA-wide mechanism for PSPs to share fraud-related intelligence.
The Fraud Information Distribution Arrangement Task Force (FRIDA TF), established in 2025, goes further by creating a structured arrangement for exchanging fraud information, supporting interoperability between national schemes and advising on fraud-prevention measures across EPC-managed SEPA payment schemes.
More details:
Real-time transaction monitoring: the future of fraud fighting
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