A new report from NiCE Actimize, the “2025 NiCE Actimize Fraud Insights Report, U.S. Retail Payments Edition,” indicates a slight shift in fraud focus from scams to account takeover (ATO) in terms of value, while highlighting significant increases in attempted fraud for international wire and Zelle transactions.
The “2025 NiCE Actimize Fraud Insights Report, U.S. Retail Payments Edition” leverages NiCE Actimize’s collective intelligence and Federated Learning, analyzing billions of banking and payment transactions to provide its findings. The report indicates that from 2023 to 2024, fraudsters’ strategies slightly shifted, with Account Takeover (ATO) fraud gaining focus over scams in terms of overall value of attempts. While scams still account for 57% of attempted fraud transactions by method, ATO fraud continues to be a persistent threat. By volume, scams saw a slight increase to 52% in 2024, up from a 50/50 split with ATO in 2023.
The report highlights differing top fraud challenges in the U.S. based on whether focus is on transaction value or volume. A significant development noted is concerning international wires. In 2024, the total value of international wire transactions decreased by 6% year-over-year, yet the value of attempted fraud for these wires surged by 40%. Additionally, Zelle transactions experienced a 26% increase in value, accompanied by a 34% rise in attempted fraud. The data also revealed that 67% of all fraud is connected to just 7% of payments made to newly added payees, underscoring fraudsters’ exploitation of new recipient introductions into payment flows.
Craig Costigan, CEO of NiCE Actimize, emphasized the importance of industry collaboration. “Sharing knowledge, expertise, and data helps us establish effective controls to safeguard financial institutions and their customers,” Costigan stated. He added, “With our decades of experience, we’ve developed solutions that go beyond payments and by leveraging advanced AI, we’ve improved model building and operational efficiency for comprehensive protection at every stage.”
The report further details that international wire fraud attempts are becoming more targeted and sophisticated, frequently employing social engineering tactics and utilizing mule accounts across borders. Financial institutions are observing an increase in fraud rings exploiting weak onboarding controls within cross-border payment systems, making international wires a growing concern despite their relatively low transaction volume. The statistics also illustrate that fraudsters strategically target different payment types: high-value fraud via checks and wires, and high-frequency, lower-value fraud through faster digital channels like Zelle. This necessitates the implementation of channel-specific fraud prevention strategies.
To counter the rise in fraud volume and complexity, NiCE Actimize offers a suite of solutions designed to assist financial institutions. One such offering is IFM Advanced Scam Prevention, which utilizes machine learning and collective intelligence from NiCE Actimize’s global client network. This solution aims to detect and prevent scams, currently the most prevalent fraud typology, by analyzing behavioral patterns, identifying suspicious counterparties, and facilitating intelligence sharing across institutions. By combining real-time analytics with insights into scam tactics, IFM Advanced Scam Prevention enables organizations to proactively block fraudulent transactions. NiCE Actimize is recognized as a global leader in preventing fraud, detecting financial crime, and supporting regulatory compliance, serving over 1,000 organizations in more than 70 countries.
