European authorities continue to place great emphasis on combating financial fraud, as highlighted in a joint report by the European Central Bank and the European Banking Authority on this issue. Although victims of financial fraud, particularly in online transactions, are increasing, the absolute numbers remain extremely small relative to the total number of transactions.
However, this does not change the fact that some of our fellow citizens, both in our country and across Europe, have lost a portion of their assets in this manner.
In Greece
Statistics for our country indicate that the amount of fraud in credit transfers reached €19,868,324, or 0.004%, while another €10,006,456 is attributed to fraud with plastic money, or 0.030%. In terms of transaction volume, fraudulent credits during the same period amounted to 9,231, while card-related cases in our country numbered 150,606 in the first half of 2023. Although the absolute numbers are much higher in larger economies, the percentages are lower.
Impact and Control Systems
However, as banking officials point out, the percentages may be limited, but each case of fraud is a “stab” in the soft underbelly of the banking system, as it can trigger a domino effect of doubts regarding trust in the system. The interesting and measured statistics show that the total value of fraud in key payment methods amounted to €4.3 billion for 2022 and €2.0 billion for the first half of 2023.
The report confirms the effectiveness of strong customer authentication requirements, particularly for protection against card fraud.
The risk of card fraud is shown to be lower for transactions within the European Economic Area, due to the mandatory implementation of strong customer identity verification procedures by banks.
The European Central Bank and the European Banking Authority published a joint agreement report on payment fraud. The report evaluates fraud data for payments conducted within the EU, including payments through providers and various payment methods, such as credit transfers and card payments.
The total value of fraudulent credit transfers, direct debits, card payments, cash withdrawals, and money transactions in the EEA amounted to €4.3 billion in 2022 and €2.0 billion in the first half of 2023. Most payment fraud in terms of value involved credit transfers and card payments.
In the first half of 2023, fraud with cards issued within the European Economic Area represented 0.031% of the total value and 0.015% of the total number of card payments.
Similar fraud rates were observed for electronic money transactions (0.022% in value and 0.012% in volume). Fraud rates were significantly lower for other means, particularly for credit transfers (0.001% in value and 0.003% in volume).
A fraud rate of 0.031% means that for every €100 in transactions, 3.1 cents involve transactions where the parties were defrauded.
Characteristics of Fraud
Most cases of direct debit fraud were accounted for by unauthorized payment transactions, meaning without strong authentication. Over 99% of all fraudulent direct debits in terms of volume and value were related to this type of fraud in the first half of 2023. The same percentage was observed for both the first and second halves of 2022.
About two-thirds of remote card fraud is due to card detail theft.
Payment fraud includes additional analyses regarding the types of fraud that form the basis of the broader category of fraudsters issuing payment orders.
The theft of card details (e.g., through data breaches, phishing, or other techniques) in the first half of 2023 represented 61% and 64% of remote card fraud in terms of value and volume.
Fraud with counterfeit cards represented 9% of remote card fraud in value and 12% in volume. Other types of remote fraud orders by fraudsters represented 18% of remote card fraud in value and 15% in volume. As mentioned above, only a small share of card fraud was due to the manipulation of the transactor to initiate a payment, ultimately representing 7% in value and 1% in volume.
