Changes in U.S. Payments Fraud from 2012 to 2016
Accessible Version
Figure 1. Third-party payments fraud and dispositions, payer's bank perspective
Tree diagram displaying how fraud is classified. Gross fraud (total attempts at fraud by third parties) is divided into cleared and settled third-party fraud—the definition of fraud for this report—and cleared but not settled third-party fraud (for cards, third-party fraud attempts that were not authorized).
Cleared and settled third-party fraud consists of both returned and not-returned fraud. In the case of returned fraud, either the depositing customer is charged, there is a courtesy write-off (collecting bank, acquiring bank), or the fraud is recovered from the third party. In the case of not-returned fraud, either the fraud is charged to the accountholder (“paying” customer charged), there is a courtesy write-off (paying bank, issuing bank), or the fraud is recovered from the third party.
Note line: As defined in the surveys, respondents were asked to report the value and number of cleared and settled third-party payments fraud. Gross fraud includes transactions that are cleared, such as through a card authorization system, but fail to settle because they were denied or for some other reason. The final disposition of a cleared and settled fraudulent payment, whether it results in a loss or is recovered, and who ultimately bears the loss, if any, depends on a variety of factors and is out of scope for this report.
Figure 2. Total payments fraud, by value and number, 2012 and 2015
| Value ($ Billions) | Number (Millions) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 2015 | 2012 | 2015 | |
| Total payments fraud | 6.10 | 8.34 | 31.4 | 61.7 |
Note: Data are from the depository institution survey (DFIPS).
Figure 3. Rate of total payments fraud, by value and number, 2012 and 2015
Basis points| Value | Number | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 2015 | 2012 | 2015 | |
| Fraud rate | 0.38 | 0.46 | 2.60 | 4.38 |
Note: Data are from the depository institution survey (DFIPS).
Figure 4. Average value of fraudulent and non-fraudulent payments, 2012 and 2015
Dollars| 2012 | 2015 | |
|---|---|---|
| Fraudulent | 194 | 135 |
| Non-fraudulent | 1,335 | 1,278 |
Note: Data are from the depository institution survey (DFIPS).
Figure 5. Distribution of payments fraud from cards, ACH, and checks, by value and number, 2012 and 2015
| 2012 | 2015 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | Value | Number | Value | |
| Cards | 92.2% | 64.6% | 97.8% | 77.5% |
| ACH | 5.0% | 17.2% | 1.3% | 14.0% |
| Checks | 2.8% | 18.2% | 0.9% | 8.6% |
Note: Cards include card payments and ATM withdrawals. Figures may not sum because of rounding. Data are from the depository institution survey (DFIPS).
Figure 6. Rate of payments fraud from cards, ACH, and checks, by value and number, 2012 and 2015
Basis points| 2012 | 2015 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value | Number | Value | Number | |
| Cards | 7.99 | 3.60 | 10.80 | 6.07 |
| ACH | 0.08 | 0.77 | 0.08 | 0.33 |
| Checks | 0.41 | 0.44 | 0.25 | 0.32 |
Note: Cards include card payments and ATM withdrawals. Data are from the depository institution survey (DFIPS).
Figure 7. Average value of fraudulent and non-fraudulent card, ACH, and check payments, 2012 and 2015
Dollars| 2012 | 2015 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cards | ACH | Checks | Cards | ACH | Checks | |
| Fraudulent | 136 | 670 | 1,267 | 107 | 1,498 | 1,255 |
| Non-fraudulent | 61 | 6,322 | 1,378 | 60 | 6,176 | 1,614 |
Note: Cards include card payments and ATM withdrawals. Data are from the depository institution survey (DFIPS).
Figure 8. Rate of fraudulent ACH credit and debit transfers, by value and number, 2012 and 2015
Basis points| 2012 | 2015 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ACH credit transfers | ACH debit transfers | ACH credit transfers | ACH debit transfers | |
| Value | 0.05 | 0.13 | 0.05 | 0.14 |
| Number | 0.59 | 0.89 | 0.12 | 0.48 |
Note: Data are from the depository institution survey (DFIPS).
Figure 9. Average value of fraudulent and non-fraudulent ACH credit and debit transfers, 2012 and 2015
Dollars| 2012 | 2015 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ACH credit transfers | ACH debit transfers | ACH credit transfers | ACH debit transfers | |
| Fraudulent | 767 | 624 | 3,582 | 1,130 |
| Non-fraudulent | 8,944 | 4,427 | 9,145 | 4,018 |
Note: Data are from the depository institution survey (DFIPS).
Figure 10. Payments fraud from credit card payments, debit card payments, and ATM withdrawals, by value and number, 2012 and 2015
| Value ($ Billions) | Number (Millions) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 2015 | 2012 | 2015 | |
| Total | 3.95 | 6.46 | 29.0 | 60.4 |
| Credit cards | 2.26 | 3.89 | 14.0 | 30.4 |
| Debit cards | 1.43 | 2.22 | 13.7 | 28.7 |
| ATM withdrawals | 0.26 | 0.35 | 1.3 | 1.4 |
Note: Debit cards include non-prepaid and prepaid debit card payments. Figures may not sum because of rounding. Data are from the depository institution survey (DFIPS).
Figure 11. Rate of payments fraud from credit card payments, debit card payments, and ATM withdrawals, by value and number, 2012 and 2015
Basis points| 2012 | 2015 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Credit cards | Debit cards | ATM withdrawals | Credit cards | Debit cards | ATM withdrawals | |
| Value | 9.97 | 7.20 | 3.73 | 13.88 | 9.17 | 4.65 |
| Number | 5.74 | 2.72 | 2.21 | 9.79 | 4.53 | 2.58 |
Note: Debit cards include non-prepaid and prepaid debit card payments. Data are from the depository institution survey (DFIPS).
Figure 12. Average value of payments fraud from credit card payments, debit card payments, and ATM withdrawals, 2012 and 2015
Dollars| 2012 | 2015 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Credit cards | Debit cards | ATM withdrawals | Credit cards | Debit cards | ATM withdrawals | |
| Fraudulent | 162 | 104 | 199 | 128 | 77 | 263 |
| Non-fraudulent | 93 | 39 | 118 | 90 | 38 | 146 |
Note: Debit cards include non-prepaid and prepaid debit card payments. Data are from the depository institution survey (DFIPS).
Figure 13. Distribution of fraudulent and non-fraudulent card-present and card-not-present payments, by value and number, 2012 and 2015
| 2012 | 2015 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | Value | Number | Value | |||||
| Non-fraudulent | Fraudulent | Non-fraudulent | Fraudulent | Non-fraudulent | Fraudulent | Non-fraudulent | Fraudulent | |
| Card-present | 85.4% | 57.7% | 71.0% | 60.6% | 83.3% | 55.2% | 69.8% | 60.2% |
| Card-not-present | 14.6% | 42.3% | 29.0% | 39.4% | 16.7% | 44.8% | 30.2% | 39.8% |
Note: Data are from the depository institution survey (DFIPS).
Figure 14. Rate of card-present and card-not-present payments fraud, by value and number, 2012 and 2015
Basis points| 2012 | 2015 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Card-present | Card-not-present | Card-present | Card-not-present | |
| Value | 6.82 | 10.87 | 9.32 | 14.23 |
| Number | 2.43 | 10.41 | 4.02 | 16.33 |
Note: Data are from the depository institution survey (DFIPS).
Figure 15. Average value of fraudulent and non-fraudulent card-present and card-not-present payments, 2012 and 2015
Dollars| 2012 | 2015 | |
|---|---|---|
| Fraudulent | ||
| Card-present | 143 | 117 |
| Card-not-present | 127 | 95 |
| Non-fraudulent | ||
| Card-present | 51 | 50 |
| Card-not-present | 121 | 109 |
Note: Data are from the depository institution survey (DFIPS).
Figure 16. Distribution of fraudulent and non-fraudulent card-present PIN and no-PIN payments, by value and number, 2012 and 2015
| Number | Value | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 2015 | 2012 | 2015 | |||||
| Non-fraudulent | Fraudulent | Non-fraudulent | Fraudulent | Non-fraudulent | Fraudulent | Non-fraudulent | Fraudulent | |
| PIN | 35.0% | 12.3% | 33.0% | 12.1% | 41.2% | 15.5% | 39.3% | 16.8% |
| No-PIN | 65.0% | 87.7% | 67.0% | 87.9% | 58.8% | 84.5% | 60.7% | 83.2% |
Note: Data are from the depository institution survey (DFIPS).
Figure 17. Rate of card-present PIN and no-PIN payments fraud, by value and number, 2012 and 2015
Basis points| 2012 | 2015 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PIN | No-PIN | PIN | No-PIN | |
| Value | 2.56 | 9.80 | 3.99 | 12.78 |
| Number | 0.85 | 3.28 | 1.48 | 5.27 |
Note: Data are from the depository institution survey (DFIPS).
Figure 18. Average value of fraudulent and non-fraudulent card-present PIN and no-PIN payments, 2012 and 2015
Dollars| 2012 | 2015 | |
|---|---|---|
| Fraudulent | ||
| PIN | 180 | 162 |
| No-PIN | 138 | 111 |
| Non-fraudulent | ||
| PIN | 60 | 60 |
| No-PIN | 46 | 46 |
Note: Data are from the depository institution survey (DFIPS).
Figure 19. Credit and debit card payments fraud, by value and number, 2015 and 2016
| Value ($ Billions) | Number (Millions) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 2016 | 2015 | 2016 | |
| Total | 7.07 | 7.48 | 63.5 | 71.4 |
| Credit cards | 4.75 | 5.14 | 36.3 | 40.1 |
| Debit cards | 2.32 | 2.34 | 27.2 | 31.3 |
Note: ATM withdrawals are not included. Debit cards include non-prepaid and prepaid debit card payments. Data are from the card network survey (NPIPS).
Figure 20. Rate of credit and debit card payments fraud, by value and number, 2015 and 2016
Basis points| 2015 | 2016 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Credit cards | Debit cards | Credit cards | Debit cards | |
| Value | 16.95 | 9.61 | 17.13 | 9.15 |
| Number | 11.70 | 4.30 | 11.70 | 4.64 |
Note: ATM withdrawals are not included. Debit cards include non-prepaid and prepaid debit card payments. Data are from the card network survey (NPIPS).
Figure 21. Average value of fraudulent and non-fraudulent credit and debit card payments, 2015 and 2016
Dollars| 2015 | 2016 | |
|---|---|---|
| Fraudulent | ||
| Credit cards | 131 | 128 |
| Debit cards | 85 | 75 |
| Non-fraudulent | ||
| Credit cards | 90 | 88 |
| Debit cards | 38 | 38 |
Note: ATM withdrawals are not included. Debit cards include non-prepaid and prepaid debit card payments. Data are from the card network survey (NPIPS).
Figure 22. Non-prepaid and prepaid debit card payments fraud, by value and number, 2015 and 2016
| Value ($ Billions) | Number (Millions) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 2016 | 2015 | 2016 | |
| Debit cards | 2.32 | 2.34 | 27.2 | 31.3 |
| Non-prepaid | 2.24 | 2.25 | 25.8 | 29.7 |
| Prepaid | 0.08 | 0.09 | 1.4 | 1.6 |
Note: ATM withdrawals are not included. Data are from the card network survey (NPIPS).
Figure 23. Rate of non-prepaid and prepaid debit card payments fraud, by value and number, 2015 and 2016
Basis points| 2015 | 2016 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Non-prepaid | Prepaid | Non-prepaid | Prepaid | |
| Value | 9.87 | 5.61 | 9.35 | 5.91 |
| Number | 4.38 | 3.18 | 4.72 | 3.49 |
Note: ATM withdrawals are not included. Data are from the card network survey (NPIPS).
Figure 24. Average value of fraudulent and non-fraudulent non-prepaid and prepaid debit card payments, 2015 and 2016
Dollars| 2015 | 2016 | |
|---|---|---|
| Fraudulent | ||
| Non-prepaid | 87 | 76 |
| Prepaid | 61 | 58 |
| Non-fraudulent | ||
| Non-prepaid | 38 | 38 |
| Prepaid | 35 | 34 |
Note: ATM withdrawals are not included. Data are from the card network survey (NPIPS).
Figure 25. Distribution of fraudulent and non-fraudulent in-person and remote card payments, by value and number, 2015 and 2016
| 2015 | 2016 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | Value | Number | Value | |||||
| Non-fraudulent | Fraudulent | Non-fraudulent | Fraudulent | Non-fraudulent | Fraudulent | Non-fraudulent | Fraudulent | |
| In-person | 79.6% | 46.3% | 57.9% | 52.0% | 77.8% | 36.9% | 56.0% | 38.9% |
| Remote | 20.4% | 53.7% | 42.1% | 48.0% | 22.2% | 63.1% | 44.0% | 61.1% |
Note: ATM withdrawals are not included. Data are from the card network survey (NPIPS).
Figure 26. In-person and remote card payments fraud, by value and number, 2015 and 2016
| Value ($ Billions) | Number (Millions) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 2016 | 2015 | 2016 | |
| Total | 7.07 | 7.48 | 63.5 | 71.4 |
| In-person | 3.68 | 2.91 | 29.4 | 26.4 |
| Remote | 3.40 | 4.57 | 34.1 | 45.0 |
Note: ATM withdrawals are not included. Figures may not sum because of rounding. Data are from the card network survey (NPIPS).
Figure 27. Rate of in-person and remote card payments fraud, by value and number, 2015 and 2016
Basis points| 2015 | 2016 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| In-person | Remote | In-person | Remote | |
| Value | 12.17 | 15.45 | 9.34 | 18.71 |
| Number | 3.91 | 17.71 | 3.33 | 19.89 |
Note: ATM withdrawals are not included. Data are from the card network survey (NPIPS).
Figure 28. Average value of fraudulent and non-fraudulent in-person and remote card payments, 2015 and 2016
Dollars| 2015 | 2016 | |
|---|---|---|
| Fraudulent | ||
| In-person | 125 | 110 |
| Remote | 100 | 102 |
| Non-fraudulent | ||
| In-person | 40 | 39 |
| Remote | 114 | 108 |
Note: ATM withdrawals are not included. Data are from the card network survey (NPIPS).
Figure 29. Distribution of fraudulent and non-fraudulent in-person chip and no-chip card payments, by value and number, 2015 and 2016
| Number | Value | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 2016 | 2015 | 2016 | |||||
| Non-fraudulent | Fraudulent | Non-fraudulent | Fraudulent | Non-fraudulent | Fraudulent | Non-fraudulent | Fraudulent | |
| Chip | 1.9% | 1.7% | 19.0% | 11.7% | 3.2% | 4.1% | 26.4% | 22.8% |
| No-chip | 98.1% | 98.3% | 81.0% | 88.3% | 96.8% | 95.9% | 73.6% | 77.2% |
Note: ATM withdrawals are not included. Data are from the card network survey (NPIPS).
Figure 30. Rate of in-person chip and no-chip card payments fraud, by value and number, 2015 and 2016
Basis points| 2015 | 2016 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chip | No-chip | Chip | No-chip | |
| Value | 15.28 | 12.07 | 8.07 | 9.80 |
| Number | 3.52 | 3.92 | 2.04 | 3.63 |
Note: ATM withdrawals are not included. Data are from the card network survey (NPIPS).
Figure 31. Average value of fraudulent and non-fraudulent in-person chip and no-chip card payments, 2015 and 2016
Dollars| 2015 | 2016 | |
|---|---|---|
| Fraudulent | ||
| Chip | 295 | 216 |
| No-chip | 122 | 96 |
| Non-fraudulent | ||
| Chip | 68 | 55 |
| No-chip | 40 | 36 |
Note: ATM withdrawals are not included. Data are from the card network survey (NPIPS).