Portugal is the European country that least suffers from digital payment fraud

Portugal is the European country that least suffers from digital payment fraud according to a report from Forex broker experts at BrokerChooser.

Digital payment fraud in Europe has surged by 43% in 2024, fuelled by increasingly sophisticated use of AI. In fact, the total value of fraud across main payment instruments reached €4.3Bn in 2022, with a further €2Bn lost in just the first half of 2023.

According to the study’s key findings, Portugal reported the lowest loss to payment fraud in Europe, averaging €64 per person.

Despite a relatively higher number of cases (216,003), its total financial loss ranks among the top 10 lowest at €13.8 million. Card issuer fraud made up the majority of cases (211,648 incidents), and is the most financially draining with losses exceeding  €9.8 million in this category alone – nearly three-quarters of total losses. Credit transfer fraud followed with losses totalling €3.5 million.

Portugal was followed by Italy with 616,657 cases with €82 million in losses. And Spain (which had more cases since it is a much larger country) at 1,210,449 cases amounting to €118 million in losses.

Forex broker experts analysed the European Banking Authority’s payment fraud data, breaking down total monetary losses by country. To quantify the impact in each nation, they calculated how many full-time workers’ earnings would be needed to offset the financial damage.

Overall, Southern European countries like Portugal, Spain, and Italy report the lowest loss per payment fraud, averaging €98.

Nordic countries lead in financial damage from payment fraud, with Finland facing the highest average loss per fraud (€593).

Credit transfer losses (€763 million) are the largest contributor to financial damage, accounting for nearly 64% of the total €1.2Bn loss.