Persistent Growth in Fraud across EMEA

 

 

The volatile loss fluctuation seen across the noughties has given way to a consistent trend in fraud losses across EMEA, with a steady increase from €1493M in 2021 to €1578M in 2024.* While this is still lower than the peak in 2015 of €1642M, the last few years indicate that fraud is steadily rising back up towards this figure. Through its own entry on the graph, we can see that the United Kingdom has followed a similar trajectory to the rest of Europe, steadily increasing to €675M (or £572.6M). This aligns with what we at FICO have seen in terms of the dominant fraud MOs that plague both the UK and Europe, as well as the common approaches taken in the last decade via initiatives such as PSD and PSR.

Key countries driving the overall increase are Norway, where fraud losses have dramatically increased over the last few years from €14M in 2021 to €26.4M, Denmark, with more than twofold increase in fraud losses (€19.6M to €47.6M) since 2021 and Hungary, which has jumped from €3.3M to €22.4M in the same time span. Greece has also seen a significant increase, with a twofold increase from €13.4M to €28.4M since 2021. Sweden’s losses have risen significantly from €13.1M to €24.2M, an increase of around 85%. However, this still does not reach the heights of losses that Sweden saw between 2015-2019, suggesting that losses have come under control but are now rising steadily due to the overall increase in fraud and fraud losses across EMEA. The story is similar in Spain, where losses have been consistent over the last few years but are creeping back up.

Despite the overall EMEA loss picture trending slowly upwards, a few countries are seeing a downward trend in their card fraud losses. France’s losses are slowly but steadily decreasing and have done so consistently since their peak at €433.2M in 2018. They now sit at €409.2M, the second highest losses of all the regions but setting a good example for controlling their losses. Turkey reports significantly lower losses at €1.1M for 2024, but they too are reducing their fraud losses consistently and have done since their peak at €14M in 2010.

* To reduce the impact of currency fluctuations, all conversions to euros in this chart and the accompanying description are based on the current conversion rate. Elsewhere in this report, native currencies are used. 

Get an advantage in the fight against fraud

Discover how FICO’s AI-powered solutions can help you reduce fraud losses and customer friction.