The explosion of artificial intelligence seems to be “arming” fraudsters: according to new analysis by BrokerChooser, digital payment fraud in Europe increased by 43% in 2024, with losses exceeding €4.3 billion in 2022 and an additional €2 billion in the first half of 2023 alone. Data from the European Banking Authority reveals that the trend shows no signs of abating, while methods are becoming increasingly sophisticated.
Greece is among the European countries comparatively least affected economically by digital payment fraud, recording total losses of €31.96 million, in 167,513 fraud cases with an average loss per incident of €191
Even though most cases involved card fraud (150,606 incidents), the biggest economic hit came from credit transfers – almost €19.8 million, representing 62% of total losses.
Southern Europe: Low losses per incident
Greece follows the same pattern as the Iberian Peninsula and Italy. In particular…
Portugal: The country with the smallest fraud impact in Europe, with an average loss of just €64 per fraud, total losses of €13.8 million and 216,003 incidents.
Spain: 1.21 million incidents – second in Europe – but average loss per incident of just €98.
Italy: Average loss of €133 per incident.
The containment of losses is attributed, according to experts, to the greater spread of early detection systems and increased consumer awareness.
The “champions” of losses
In contrast, the Scandinavian countries record the largest financial losses per fraud. Analysts note that the extensive use of digital payments and higher average salaries likely increase the financial risk per incident. In particular…
Finland: €593 per incident – ??the highest price in Europe, with total losses of €23.6 million.
Iceland and Norway follow with €545 and €488 respectively.
The Big Picture
Overall in Europe, credit transfer fraud is the biggest financial headache, with losses of €763 million – almost two-thirds of the total losses of €1.2 billion. At the same time, card issuance fraud remains the most common (4.1 million incidents).
