- What’s at stake: On average, U.S. businesses reported losing the equivalent of 9.8% of their revenue to fraud over the past year, a significant increase from 6.7% in 2024.
- Key insight: Account takeover was the most damaging type of fraud, representing nearly one-third of all reported fraud losses in the U.S., while check fraud saw the largest year-over-year increase in losses.
- Forward look: Over half of U.S. business leaders believe identity verification technologies are among the most effective tools for preventing future fraud losses.
Overview bullets generated by AI with editorial review
Financial institutions face a rising tide of fraud, costing organizations a large share of their revenue and exposing significant vulnerabilities, particularly in digital channels and payments, according to recent industry data.
Business leaders across the United States reported in a survey sponsored by TransUnion, which sells a fraud prevention platform, that their companies lost, on average, the equivalent of 9.8% of revenue due to fraud over the past year.
This figure represents an increase from 6.7% in the 2024 survey, and it is higher than the global average loss rate of 7.7%. The survey included 1,200 business leaders globally, including 200 in the U.S.
TransUnion’s findings align with previous findings from other surveys by Alloy, another fraud prevention platform; the Federal Reserve; and the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. Consumer reports of fraud also come from the Federal Trade Commission.
A survey conducted by Alloy in October 2024 indicated that, of the 486 leaders at banks, credit unions and fintechs surveyed, nearly one in three reported incurring over $1 million in direct fraud losses in the past 12 months. A majority of organizations (61%) incurred over $500,000 in direct fraud losses.
Mid-market banks and credit unions carry a particularly heavy burden, according to Alloy; 11% of mid-market institutions reported over $5 million in direct fraud losses last year.
Top threats: Account takeover and check fraud dominate
In the U.S., three types of fraud caused the majority of reported business losses, according to the TransUnion survey:
- Account takeover: This type of fraud, which involves a fraudster taking over a consumer’s email, bank or other account often by stealing their password, was the most damaging. It represented nearly one third (31%) of all reported fraud losses in the U.S. in the past year. Globally, digital account takeover volume increased 141% from the first half of 2021 to the first half of 2025.
- Synthetic identity fraud: This represented 24% of reported U.S. fraud losses in the TransUnion survey. Synthetic identities use a combination of personally identifiable information to fabricate a person or entity for financial gain. Total exposure to suspected synthetic identities for U.S. lenders offering auto loans, bank credit cards, retail credit cards and unsecured personal loans reached $2.7 billion in the first six months of 2025.
- Scams, also known as authorized fraud, accounted for 23% of U.S. losses. This involves a scheme that tricks a person into knowingly initiating a transaction.
When looking at overall case volume across financial organizations, credit card fraud, account takeover, non-synthetic identity theft and check fraud were the leading fraud types reported. Large banks cited check fraud as their most common fraud type (20%).
Institutions estimate that debit card and check fraud expenses account for over two-thirds of their yearly fraud loss expenses, with check fraud losses growing to near debit card levels. Check fraud saw the largest year-over-year increase in losses, followed by credit card fraud.
Digital channels and consumer vulnerability
Fraudsters heavily target digital channels, with 80% of fraud events occurring on online or mobile banking channels, according to Alloy’s survey.
Account creation proved to be the riskiest stage of the consumer lifecycle in the first half of 2025, with 8.3% of all global digital account creation attempts suspected of fraud, according to the TransUnion survey.
More than half (51%) of U.S. consumers reported being targeted by scams via email, online platforms, phone calls or text messages between February and May 2025, according to a TransUnion survey of 2,998 Americans. Phishing and smishing were the most common fraud schemes cited by targeted U.S. consumers.
Relatedly, consumers’ reports to the Federal Trade Commission in 2024 totaled $12.5 billion in fraud losses, marking a 25% increase over the previous year. Investment scams accounted for the largest reported loss amount ($5.7 billion), followed by imposter scams ($2.95 billion).
Addressing the identity crisis
More than half (58%) of U.S. business leaders ranked identity verification in their top three most effective technologies for preventing fraud, according to TransUnion’s business survey.
Other preferred technologies included device reputation (44%), which involves attempting to fingerprint the device a consumer is using, and IP intelligence (43%), which involves monitoring the consumer’s IP address.