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A PYMNTS Intelligence report based on a July 2026 survey of 90 U.S. financial institution executives says scams accounted for 22.4% of fraud dollars, up from 12% in 2025. The report also finds that scams and compromised credentials together made up 50.6% of fraud dollars, while institutions report widespread use of detection tools and difficulty integrating systems.
Scams accounted for 22.4% of fraud dollars at surveyed U.S. banks, credit unions and FinTechs, up from 12% in 2025, according to a PYMNTS Intelligence report published October 16. The report says the growing share points to a challenge for financial institutions: customers may authorize payments themselves after being manipulated, so verifying a login or approval may not establish that a transaction is safe.
The report, “Scams Get Personal: Why Banks Pay More to Fight Fraud,” draws on a July 2026 survey of 90 executives at U.S. banks, credit unions and FinTechs. It says scams and fraud involving compromised credentials together represented 50.6% of fraud dollars, compared with 27.6% two years earlier. The publication presents these figures as shares of fraud dollars, not as counts of individual incidents.
One category highlighted in the report is relationship or trust fraud, where criminals first build rapport with victims. Its share of fraud dollars more than doubled, rising from 6% to 12.6%. Separately, account takeover using stolen credentials represented 28.2% of fraud dollars; the report says its share grew 82%. Physical forgery and counterfeit fraud, by contrast, fell to 6.1%.
Fraud tools are already widely used among those surveyed: all institutions said they use tools that analyze behavior, identify devices and verify identity through personal information. The report says 96% use machine learning and artificial intelligence. Yet 78% named the complexity of new technology systems as their top barrier to innovation, up from 48% a year earlier. The findings suggest that linking existing systems and evaluating payment circumstances remain challenges alongside deploying detection tools.
The figures matter because scam payments can appear legitimate to controls focused on access credentials. A customer may log in successfully and approve a transfer, while having been deceived about the recipient or reason for paying. The report argues that institutions can strengthen defenses by looking beyond whether a customer authenticated and examining whether a payment fits that person’s behavior and circumstances.
For customers, the trend highlights how fraud can involve persuasion as well as stolen account details. For banks and other institutions, it presents a practical operational problem: detecting suspicious activity without treating every unusual but genuine payment as fraud. The survey findings do not establish that a particular defensive approach will prevent losses, but they indicate where institutions and the report’s authors see room to improve.
System integration is part of that problem. If institutions have adopted multiple tools but struggle to make them work together, their ability to combine signals about devices, customer behavior and transactions may be constrained. The survey records executives’ reported barriers and priorities; it does not independently measure how well individual systems perform or how much losses might fall after changes.
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A Fraud Mix Shifting Toward Scams
The report’s comparison across years describes a shift in the composition of fraud losses. Scams rose from 12% of fraud dollars in 2025 to 22.4% in the 2026 findings, while the combined share attributed to scams and compromised credentials increased from 27.6% two years earlier to 50.6%. These are different comparisons and should not be read as a single measure of total fraud volume.
Alongside technology adoption, institutions report planned investment in customer communication. Seventy-eight percent said improving communication with customers was a planned investment for the coming year, compared with 41% in the prior comparison cited by the report. Among institutions using machine learning, 86% said it helps them identify problems proactively, up from 25% in 2025. These are survey responses, not an independent assessment of effectiveness.
Limits of the Survey Findings
The report summarizes responses from 90 executives at U.S. financial institutions and FinTechs. The supplied findings do not specify the survey’s full methodology, how participating organizations were selected, or how fraud-dollar shares were calculated. The figures should therefore be understood as the report’s survey findings, not as a complete count of all U.S. fraud losses.
The source material also does not provide the total dollar value of fraud, the number of affected customers, or a breakdown of results by institution type. It does not establish whether the reported changes reflect more scam losses, declines in other categories, changes in measurement, or a combination. The specific defenses institutions will implement—and whether those changes reduce losses—remain unclear.
Banks Focus on Communication and Integration
The report points to customer communication and better coordination among existing fraud tools as areas institutions may pursue. It says improved customer communication leads planned investments for the coming year, with 78% of surveyed institutions citing it. The report also identifies integration complexity as a leading obstacle, suggesting that connecting systems could be a near-term focus for organizations that already use multiple detection methods.
No specific implementation timetable or industry-wide program is identified in the findings. Future reporting would need to show whether institutions change how they review customer-authorized payments, whether those changes affect scam losses, and how the reported fraud shares evolve. For now, the figures describe the survey’s July 2026 snapshot and the priorities executives reported at that time.
Key Questions
What share of fraud dollars did scams represent?
The PYMNTS Intelligence report says scams accounted for 22.4% of fraud dollars in its findings, up from 12% in 2025.
What does the report mean by relationship or trust fraud?
It describes cases in which criminals first build a personal relationship or rapport with victims. The category’s share of fraud dollars rose from 6% to 12.6%, according to the report.
Are banks already using fraud-detection technology?
All institutions in the survey reported using tools to analyze behavior, identify devices and verify identity through personal information. The report says 96% also use machine learning and artificial intelligence.
What is the main obstacle institutions reported?
Seventy-eight percent cited the complexity of new technology systems as their top barrier to innovation, up from 48% in the prior-year comparison given in the report.
Do the findings show that new defenses will cut fraud losses?
No. The report records survey findings and executives’ reported plans and views. It does not establish that any specific defense will reduce losses or quantify the effect of future changes.
Source: rss
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