Payment Fraud Index: United States 2026

Across the US, Australia and New Zealand, Eftsure verifies supplier bank details before payment is made, covering a payment volume that reflects the scale of the business payment fraud risk its customers face.

The figure reflects cumulative detections across Eftsure's customer base and illustrates the scale of payment fraud risk that finance teams face without independent verification controls in place.

If the Q1 2026 pace holds across the full year, Eftsure's fraud detection volume will increase by more than 300% year on year. The increase reflects both growth in Eftsure's customer base and a rising volume of fraud attempts reaching finance teams.

That is a 26% increase on 2024's US$16.6 billion, the steepest single-year rise in the IC3's reported history and a signal that existing controls are not keeping pace with fraud volume.

Complaint volume crossing one million for the first time reflects both rising fraud activity and greater reporting awareness. The average victim lost US$20,699 per incident.

With 24,768 complaints filed, BEC remains the most financially damaging single fraud category for businesses. The attack vector runs directly through the payment approval process.

The concentration of losses in cyber-enabled fraud categories means that the vast majority of payment fraud risk now runs through digital channels, not physical document theft or insider access alone.

Phishing remains the highest-volume attack type by complaint count and the most common entry point for BEC. A spoofed vendor email typically triggers a fraudulent payment instruction.

AI-assisted fraud is no longer a future risk category. At US$893 million in losses from just the first year of dedicated IC3 tracking, it is already material for finance teams reviewing their verification controls.

AI-generated content (voice cloning, deepfake video, synthetic written communications) is now being used to make BEC attempts more convincing at the moment of payment approval, when time pressure is highest.

The figure, cited by INTERPOL from the Global Anti-Scam Alliance, represents the broadest available estimate of the total cost of financial fraud worldwide. It provides context for the scale of the problem that regional figures like the US's US$20.877 billion sit within.

The surge in INTERPOL alerts reflects accelerating cross-border fraud activity. Payment fraud increasingly operates across jurisdictions, making domestic controls insufficient on their own.

The figure confirms that rising fraud is not a US or regional phenomenon. Finance teams in every market are reporting the same pressure.

INTERPOL's assessment identifies AI as a force multiplier for fraud operators, not just a tool for generating convincing content. The profitability gap between AI-enhanced and traditional fraud is the key driver behind the rapid adoption of AI by fraud networks.