It’s time to tackle payment fraud at a systemic level

Currently, consumers have to foot the bill for 86% of losses caused by fraudulent credit transfers with an average value of €1,835. Banks refuse reimbursements for authorised transactions and for unauthorised transactions when they consider the consumer “grossly negligent” – leading to almost systematic refusal. This diminishes trust, especially in European payment solutions such as instant payments and the upcoming digital euro which, unlike international card schemes, do not (yet) offer additional refund rights going beyond EU payment services rules.

Consumer testing from BEUC members shows that consumers of all ages and levels of education have difficulties in distinguishing phishing  from genuine communication from their banks. This means systemic solutions to prevent fraud are urgently needed.

As EU legislators begin to finalise payment services legislation, read more about what they should take on board to ensure consumers are fully protected in our new factsheet.