The total value of payment fraud incidents in Cyprus rose by 16% to nearly €3.7 million in the second half of 2025, despite a 5% decrease in the number of incidents, according to a statistical report by the Central Bank of Cyprus (CBC) published on Tuesday.
According to the CBC, a total of approximately 14,000 cases of fraud were recorded in the second half of 2025. Despite the increase in total value, the CBC notes that payment fraud in Cyprus remained at relatively low levels, with fraud rates for most payment instruments falling below the eurozone average.
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ
With regard to credit transfers, Cyprus recorded the highest average transaction value involving a fraud incident among euro area countries.
Specifically, each fraud incident involving a credit transfer had an average value of €6,300 in Cyprus, compared to €1,800 in the euro area. This average value was also higher than the average value of credit transfers in general in Cyprus, which stood at €4,500.
As the CBC notes, this means that “even a limited number of fraud incidents can result in significant financial losses.”
Credit transfers accounted for €2 million, or 56% of the total value of fraud incidents in Cyprus, while card payments followed with €1.6 million, or 43%.
In terms of the number of incidents, however, card payments accounted for 93% of the total, with approximately 13,000 incidents.
The CBC notes that in credit transfers, payment service users—that is, consumers and businesses—bear approximately 95% of total fraud losses over time, while for card payments and electronic money, the majority of losses are borne by other parties involved.
Most Card Fraud Occurs Online
While in-person card payments at points of sale account for 70% of card transactions in Cyprus, only 4% of fraud incidents involved such transactions.
In contrast, online payments account for 30% of card transactions but accounted for 96% of fraud cases and 94% of the total value of card fraud.
The fraud rate for credit card payments was also about 1.5 times higher than that for debit cards, both in terms of number and value.
In credit transfers, the predominant form of fraud was “manipulation of the payer by the fraudster,” in which the account holder is tricked into transferring funds to an account controlled by the fraudster.
This specific form accounted for 70% of fraud cases involving credit transfers, while the remaining 30% involved “unauthorized payment transactions.”
The CBC notes that direct credit transfers had higher fraud rates than conventional ones. In Cyprus, the fraud rate for instant transfers, in terms of value, was on average roughly double that of conventional transfers.
The average transaction value involving a fraud incident in instant credit transfers amounted to €3,400, more than double the average value of direct transfers overall, which was €1,500.
As reported by the CBC, Verification of Payee (VoP), which became mandatory in October 2025 for payment service providers in the euro area, is expected to help reduce fraud in electronic credit transfers. Its impact, however, is not yet reflected in the report’s data.
Although the majority of transactions in Cyprus involve domestic payments, the majority of fraud cases involve cross-border transactions, it adds.
The CBC also notes that the implementation of Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) is associated with significantly lower fraud rates. In Cyprus, the rate of fraud in card payments without SCA was nearly four times higher in terms of number and nearly three times higher in terms of value, compared with transactions in which SCA was applied.
Across the euro area, the total value of fraud incidents increased by 8%, reaching €1.9 billion in the second half of 2025, while the number of incidents remained essentially unchanged, at approximately 9 million.
In conclusion, the CBC notes that despite the relatively low levels of fraud in Cyprus, the concentration of incidents in online and cross-border transactions, as well as in high-value credit transfers, “makes it necessary to continuously strengthen preventive measures and mechanisms for managing the associated risks.”
Source: CNA
