A significant 9% reduction in payment card fraud incidents occurred in 2025 compared to the previous year, according to data from the Bank of Greece, which is reflected in the Financial Hellenic Stability Report released to the public.
The ratio of the number of fraud transactions to the total number of transactions (Fraud-to-Transaction ratio in volume terms) also decreased drastically by 20% year-on-year, as it was reduced to 0.013%, corresponding to 1 fraud transaction per 7.6 thousand. transactions in 2025.
In terms of the value of fraud transactions in absolute terms, it remained at the same level as in 2024, amounting to €22.6 million out of a total of €120 billion of transactions. Given the increase in transaction value to €120 billion from €112 billion in 2024, the Fraud-to-Transaction value to total transaction value ratio in value terms rose to 0.019%, corresponding to €1 fraud transaction value per 5.3k transaction value in 2025, compared to €1 fraud transaction value per 4.9k transaction value in 2024.
According to the Bank of Greece, important factors that have contributed to the reduction of fraud transactions include the continuous adoption of sophisticated fraud prevention practices by Greek credit institutions and national payment service providers in general, their cooperation with national and foreign institutions in order to dismantle criminal organizations whose members commit various forms of fraud, as well as the continuous information of users of electronic payment instruments on the ways of correct and safe use of electronic payment instruments.
Indicatively:
– The dismantling by the Directorate of Cybercrime of criminal organisations whose members committed investment fraud,
– The publication of a press release by the AADE entitled “Beware of misleading mobile phone messages (SMS)”, according to which citizens were receiving misleading messages (SMS) on their mobile phones regarding the alleged granting of a welfare subsidy with the AADE as the alleged sender,
– The immediate taking of measures to combat fraudulent phone calls using the “Caller ID Spoofing” method in cooperation with the Hellenic Union of Banks (EETT) and the National Telecommunications and Postal Commission (EETT).
In terms of the number of fraud transactions by transaction type, there are decreases in fraud across all transaction types.
Specifically, the number of fraud incidents decreased by 21% in POS transactions, by 7% in remote Card Not Present (CNP) transactions and by 6% in ATM transactions compared to 2024. A significant decrease was also observed in the value of fraud transactions, for POS transactions by 28%, a marginal decrease by 2% in ATM transactions, while an increase was observed in the value of fraud transactions in remote Card not present (CNP) transactions by 4%.
An analysis of the fraud incidents in POS transactions shows that the reduction in these is due to the reduction in fraud incidents arising from illegitimate transactions using lost/stolen cards. Specifically, the value of fraud transactions using lost/stolen cards at POS decreased by 17% to €1.4 million, while the number of fraud transactions due to fraud decreased by 19%.
When it comes to fraud in distance transactions, it is found that the vast majority (98% in value and 99% in number) are fraud transactions over the internet. These incidents still mainly involve online transactions with foreign businesses.
