ZPF and EY: fewer institutions report an increase in fraud, but AI increases concerns

59 percent institutions participating in the ZPF and EY study do not record a change in the intensity of fraud in 2025. 34% indicate an increase, compared to 47%. a year earlier, and a decline of 7%. The report published in October 2026 is based on the responses of 29 entities, mainly banking, leasing and lending entities.

The greatest concern is social engineering, i.e. persuading the customer to act in favor of the fraudster. Other threats include the use of AI, synthetic identities and deepfakes. Therefore, a properly authorized operation may still result from manipulation, and securing the infrastructure alone does not solve the problem.

At the same time, 41 percent respondents declare that their organization does not use AI to analyze customer activity. Barriers include resources, data quality and regulations. The authors point out the need for earlier risk recognition and customer education. The results describe the study group and period, and do not prove that the number of frauds is decreasing throughout the financial sector.

In 17 percent organizations surveyed, the number of fraud attempts exceeds 10,000. annually. So, stable intensity does not mean that the problem is small in scale everywhere.