Irish payment fraud rises 27 percent to €179 million
Fraudulent payments recorded by Irish payment service providers rose 27.2 percent to €179.04 million in 2025, driven primarily by online credit transfers. Overall fraud volume remained virtually flat at 510,840 transactions, according to Central Bank of Ireland statistics.
Higher average losses across online channels
Total fraudulent payments increased from €140.80 million in 2024 to €179.04 million in 2025, with online channels generating 91.5 percent of total value.
Credit transfers represented the largest driver in absolute terms, rising 23.3 percent to €83.34 million.
E-money transactions recorded the fastest growth, expanding 57.7 percent to €40.42 million despite a 23.5 percent drop in fraudulent transaction volume.
Card payment fraud rose 18.6 percent to €51.01 million and comprised 84.0 percent of fraudulent volume.
As aggregate volume rose just 0.3 percent to 510,840 cases, the average fraud amount per incident increased across all methods, led by cheques at €9,741, credit transfers at €2,412, and e-money at €1,427.
Cross-border channels and liability shifts
Cross-border payments accounted for 69.8 percent of fraudulent value at €124.89 million, with non-EEA destinations rising 54.8 percent to €65.88 million.
Furthermore, 67.4 percent of fraudulent electronic payments were processed using Strong Customer Authentication, reflecting the rise of payer manipulation scams, which made up 67.2 percent of credit transfer fraud.
Total financial losses grew 45.6 percent to €112.7 million, with payment service users absorbing 74.6 percent of the total burden.
Security protocols miss the human factor
Technical security fails when fraud shifts from card theft to direct social manipulation of payers.
Burdening consumers with three-quarters of all losses exposes regulatory frameworks that protect institutions over users.
Without mandatory reimbursement rules, service providers will lack sufficient incentive to stop evolving scams.