Nicosia: The total volume of fraudulent payment transactions in the first half of 2025 increased by 30% to 16,000 transactions compared with the first half of 2024, while the total value of fraudulent payment transactions rose by 66% to almost pound 4 million for the same period, according to a report published on Monday by the Central Bank of Cyprus (CBC).
According to Cyprus News Agency, this is the second statistical report on payment fraud, published by the CBC, providing an overview of fraudulent payment transactions in Cyprus. Fraudulent transactions include unauthorised payment transactions and payment transactions made as a result of a manipulation of the payer, it explains.
The CBC report highlights that the total fraudulent payment transactions in Cyprus increased at a faster rate than that of the euro area as a whole, in both volume and value terms. In contrast, the euro area saw a relatively stable number of fraudulent payment transactions, around 9 million from the end of the first half of 2024 to the end of the first half of 2025, with the total value increasing modestly by 6% to pound 1.7 billion for the same period.
However, the CBC notes that fraudulent payment transactions in Cyprus still remain at acceptable levels in both absolute and relative terms. The data indicates that 92% of fraudulent payment transactions were related to card payments, with fraudulent credit transfers and card fraud accounting for 54% and 45% of the total value of fraudulent transactions, amounting to pound 1.9 million and pound 1.6 million respectively. The value of the remaining payment services was significantly lower, less than pound 50,000.
In Cyprus, the highest average value of fraudulent payment transactions by payment service related to fraudulent credit transfers was pound 5,472 for the first half of 2025, which was higher than the average value of a credit transfer generally, pound 4,496, for the same period. The CBC attributes this to fraudsters targeting high-value transactions, noting that the average value of fraudulent credit transfers in Cyprus was one of the highest in the euro area.
The report also sheds light on the types of fraud, with "manipulation of the payer by the fraudster" being the main type for credit transfers, accounting for 59% of the total volume of fraudulent credit transfers. Meanwhile, "unauthorised payment transactions" dominated card payments, making up 97% of the total volume of fraudulent payments in Cyprus.
Moreover, fraudulent payments for cross-border transactions were significantly higher than for domestic ones for all payment services in Cyprus during the first half of 2025. Card fraud was about 24 times more likely to occur in cross-border payments than within Cyprus, attributed to varying regulations across jurisdictions and insufficient cross-border cooperation among payment service providers and stakeholders to combat fraud.
The CBC emphasizes that strong customer authentication rules have positively impacted reducing the risk of fraud for card payments. It also notes that while card payments predominantly occurred at physical points of sale, card fraud was almost exclusively related to online payments (97%) in Cyprus.
The CBC stresses the importance of spotting warning signs to prevent fraud, highlighting that human error remains a weak link. It advocates for collaboration in combating fraud, urging payment service providers to understand emerging threats and invest in security and monitoring technologies. Additionally, it calls for increased financial literacy and awareness among citizens through initiatives by the Cyprus Financial Literacy and Education Committee and society at large.