Chargeback & Payment Fraud Statistics 2026

Last updated 3 November 2026. The most quoted numbers on this page, ready to use with their sources.

1. About 261 million chargebacks were expected worldwide in 2025.Source: Mastercard (research by Datos Insights), What's the true cost of a chargeback in 2025? (2025)
2. The value of chargebacks worldwide is forecast to rise from $33.79 billion in 2025 to $41.69 billion in 2028.Source: Mastercard (research by Datos Insights), What's the true cost of a chargeback in 2025? (2025)
3. Every $1 lost to fraud costs US retail and ecommerce companies about $5.13 in total, and Canadian companies about $5.23.Source: LexisNexis Risk Solutions, True Cost of Fraud Study 2026: Retail & Ecommerce (Jun 2026)
4. Resolving a single first-party misuse dispute costs merchants $82 on average, above $80 for the first time in the Merchant Risk Council's research.Source: Merchant Risk Council, 2026 Global eCommerce Payments & Fraud Report (Mar 2026)
5. About 45% of merchants' chargebacks are fraudulent, counting first-party and third-party fraud together.Source: Mastercard (research by Datos Insights), 2025 State of Chargebacks: A global view for issuers and merchants (Mar 2025)
6. Friendly fraud makes up an estimated 22% of chargebacks in 2026, forecast to reach 28% globally by 2031.Source: Juniper Research, Friendly Fraud to Make Up 28% of Chargebacks Globally by 2031 (Jun 2026)
7. Merchants win 50% of the chargebacks they contest on average: 54% in the US, 49.1% in the UK, 46.7% in Australia and 36.9% in Brazil.Source: Mastercard (research by Datos Insights), 2025 State of Chargebacks: A global view for issuers and merchants (Mar 2025)
8. Card fraud losses worldwide were $33.41 billion in 2024, down 1.2% from $33.83 billion in 2023.Source: The Nilson Report, Card Fraud Losses Worldwide 2024 (Issue 1298) (Dec 2025)
9. Remote (card-not-present) payments accounted for about 83% of EEA card fraud in 2024.Source: European Banking Authority and European Central Bank, 2025 Report on payment fraud (Dec 2025)
10. Card payment fraud was about 17 times higher when the payee was outside the EEA, where strong authentication is generally not required.Source: European Banking Authority and European Central Bank, Joint EBA-ECB report on payment fraud (Dec 2025)
11. Fraud losses on UK-issued cards were £594.9 million in 2025, up slightly from £592.5 million in 2024.Source: UK Finance, Annual Fraud Report 2026 (Jun 2026)
12. Since 1 April 2026, a merchant in the US, Canada, EU or Asia Pacific is classed as excessive under VAMP at a ratio of 1.5% (150 basis points) with at least 1,500 fraud reports and disputes a month, down from 2.2%.Source: Visa, Visa Acquirer Monitoring Program Fact Sheet 2025 (2025)
13. Mastercard's excessive chargeback ratio is set to fall in steps from 1.5% to 1.3% in 2029, 1.1% in 2030 and 0.9% in 2031, with the minimum staying at 100 chargebacks.Source: payabl., relaying Mastercard, Mastercard GMAP: what merchants need to do before April 2027 (Aug 2026)
14. Cryptocurrency-related complaints to the FBI reported $11.37 billion in losses in 2025, across 181,565 complaints, up 21%.Source: FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center, 2025 IC3 Annual Report (Apr 2026)

• About 261 million chargebacks were expected worldwide in 2025.Source: Mastercard (research by Datos Insights), What's the true cost of a chargeback in 2025? (2025)
• Global chargeback volume is forecast to grow 24% from 2025 to 2028, reaching 324 million chargebacks a year.Source: Mastercard (research by Datos Insights), What's the true cost of a chargeback in 2025? (2025)
• The value of chargebacks worldwide is forecast to rise from $33.79 billion in 2025 to $41.69 billion in 2028.Source: Mastercard (research by Datos Insights), What's the true cost of a chargeback in 2025? (2025)
• The Middle East and Africa is the fastest-growing region for chargebacks, with 59% growth forecast to 2028, against 35% for Asia Pacific.Source: Mastercard (research by Datos Insights), What's the true cost of a chargeback in 2025? (2025)
• 73.6% of cardholder disputes become chargebacks. Only 26.4% are resolved before that stage.Source: Mastercard (research by Datos Insights), 2025 State of Chargebacks: A global view for issuers and merchants (Mar 2025)

• Every $1 lost to fraud costs US retail and ecommerce companies about $5.13 in total, and Canadian companies about $5.23.Source: LexisNexis Risk Solutions, True Cost of Fraud Study 2026: Retail & Ecommerce (Jun 2026)
• That cost has more than doubled in a decade, from about $2.40 per $1 of fraud in 2016 to more than $5 today.Source: LexisNexis Risk Solutions, True Cost of Fraud Study 2026: Retail & Ecommerce (Jun 2026)
• In the previous year's study, US merchants paid $4.61 for every $1 of fraud and Canadian merchants $4.52.Source: LexisNexis Risk Solutions, True Cost of Fraud Study: Retail & Ecommerce (Apr 2025)
• Resolving a single first-party misuse dispute costs merchants $82 on average, above $80 for the first time in the Merchant Risk Council's research.Source: Merchant Risk Council, 2026 Global eCommerce Payments & Fraud Report (Mar 2026)
• A year earlier, the average cost to resolve a first-party misuse dispute rose from $74 to $78.Source: Merchant Risk Council, 2025 Global eCommerce Payments & Fraud Report (Mar 2025)
• The US has the highest average chargeback value of the countries studied at $110. Travel and hospitality is the highest industry at $120.Source: Mastercard (research by Datos Insights), What's the true cost of a chargeback in 2025? (2025)
• Card issuers spend $9.08 to $10.32 to process each disputed transaction.Source: Mastercard (research by Datos Insights), What's the true cost of a chargeback in 2025? (2025)
• Midsize and large merchants spend $100,000 to $500,000 a year on chargeback technology.Source: Mastercard (research by Datos Insights), What's the true cost of a chargeback in 2025? (2025)
• 37% of North American retail and ecommerce companies reported significant revenue losses from fraud in the past year.Source: LexisNexis Risk Solutions, True Cost of Fraud Study 2026: Retail & Ecommerce (Jun 2026)
• The average share of ecommerce orders that turn out to be fraudulent rose from 3.0% to 3.5%.Source: Merchant Risk Council, 2026 Global eCommerce Payments & Fraud Report (Mar 2026)

Estimates differ widely because each study measures something different: all chargebacks, fraud-coded disputes only, or what merchants believe. Quote the method together with the number.

• About 45% of merchants' chargebacks are fraudulent, counting first-party and third-party fraud together.Source: Mastercard (research by Datos Insights), 2025 State of Chargebacks: A global view for issuers and merchants (Mar 2025)
• Card issuers classify 72% of disputes as fraudulent, far more than the 45% that merchants do.Source: Mastercard (research by Datos Insights), 2025 State of Chargebacks: A global view for issuers and merchants (Mar 2025)
• Friendly fraud makes up an estimated 22% of chargebacks in 2026, forecast to reach 28% globally by 2031.Source: Juniper Research, Friendly Fraud to Make Up 28% of Chargebacks Globally by 2031 (Jun 2026)
• Losses to friendly fraud are forecast to reach nearly $16 billion in 2031, up from $8.1 billion in 2026.Source: Juniper Research, Friendly Fraud to Make Up 28% of Chargebacks Globally by 2031 (Jun 2026)
• Merchants attribute 17% of their fraudulent disputes to first-party misuse, down from 20%. In North America the share is 21%.Source: Merchant Risk Council, 2026 Global eCommerce Payments & Fraud Report (Mar 2026)
• 64% of merchants report rising first-party misuse, and a quarter report increases of 25% or more.Source: Merchant Risk Council, MRC Releases 2026 Global eCommerce Payments & Fraud Report (Mar 2026)
• 39% of merchants say first-party misuse is rising mainly because consumers are learning to game the system, and 29% blame issuers for making disputes fast and easy.Source: Merchant Risk Council, 2026 Global eCommerce Payments & Fraud Report (Mar 2026)
• Merchants in a Chargebacks911 survey estimate that friendly fraud accounts for 43.8% of their chargebacks.Source: Chargebacks911 (vendor survey), 2026 Chargeback Field Report (Aug 2026)

• 40% of US and UK cardholders say they often don't recognise purchases on their card statement.Source: Chargebacks911 (vendor survey), 2025 Cardholder Dispute Index (Jul 2025)
• 76% of cardholders prefer to resolve disputes through their bank rather than the merchant, and 88% say a successful dispute makes them more likely to file another.Source: Chargebacks911 (vendor survey), 2025 Cardholder Dispute Index (Jul 2025)
• In a normal week, 37.8% of disputes are coded as fraud and 19.9% as item never arrived. Over Black Friday weekend 2025, item never arrived rose to 34.7%.Source: Chargeflow Data Lab (vendor data), Black Friday Chargebacks: One in Three Says Item Not Received (Oct 2026)

• Merchants win 50% of the chargebacks they contest on average: 54% in the US, 49.1% in the UK, 46.7% in Australia and 36.9% in Brazil.Source: Mastercard (research by Datos Insights), 2025 State of Chargebacks: A global view for issuers and merchants (Mar 2025)
• Counting every chargeback, not only those contested, merchants in a Chargebacks911 survey recover just 10.7% of cases.Source: Chargebacks911 (vendor survey), 2026 Chargeback Field Report (Aug 2026)
• Half of merchants (50%) handle chargebacks entirely in-house.Source: Mastercard (research by Datos Insights), What's the true cost of a chargeback in 2025? (2025)

• Card fraud losses worldwide were $33.41 billion in 2024, down 1.2% from $33.83 billion in 2023.Source: The Nilson Report, Card Fraud Losses Worldwide 2024 (Issue 1298) (Dec 2025)
• Global card fraud cost 6.43 cents for every $100 of card volume in 2024, down from 6.58 cents in 2023.Source: The Nilson Report, Global Card Fraud Losses at $33 Billion (Jan 2026)
• US-issued cards made up 26.31% of global card volume in 2024 but 41.87% of global card fraud losses.Source: The Nilson Report, Global Card Fraud Losses at $33 Billion (Jan 2026)
• Global card fraud losses are projected to reach $41.06 billion by 2030.Source: The Nilson Report, Global Card Fraud Losses at $33 Billion (Jan 2026)
• On US Visa credit cards, card-not-present fraud rates are 7.5 times those of card-present payments, and card-not-present accounts for nearly 89% of payment fraud.Source: Visa, 3-D Secure (Visa Protect insights) (2025)
• Payment fraud in the European Economic Area totalled €4.2 billion in 2024, up from €3.5 billion in 2023.Source: European Banking Authority and European Central Bank, Joint EBA-ECB report on payment fraud (Dec 2025)
• Fraud on EU and EEA-issued cards reached €1.3 billion in 2024, a fraud rate of 0.033% of card payment value.Source: European Banking Authority and European Central Bank, 2025 Report on payment fraud (Dec 2025)
• Remote (card-not-present) payments accounted for about 83% of EEA card fraud in 2024.Source: European Banking Authority and European Central Bank, 2025 Report on payment fraud (Dec 2025)
• About 70% of EEA card fraud in 2024 involved cross-border transactions.Source: European Banking Authority and European Central Bank, 2025 Report on payment fraud (Dec 2025)
• UK payment fraud losses reached £1.28 billion in 2025, the highest since the 2021 pandemic peak.Source: UK Finance, Annual Fraud Report 2026 (Jun 2026)
• Fraud losses on UK-issued cards were £594.9 million in 2025, up slightly from £592.5 million in 2024.Source: UK Finance, Annual Fraud Report 2026 (Jun 2026)
• UK remote purchase (card-not-present) fraud losses were £423.5 million in 2025, up 3%, across 3.2 million cases, up 13%.Source: UK Finance, Annual Fraud Report 2026 (Jun 2026)
• UK contactless card fraud totalled £46.8 million in 2025, up 8%.Source: UK Finance, Annual Fraud Report 2026 (Jun 2026)
• US consumers filed 3 million fraud reports with the FTC in 2025 and reported $15.9 billion in losses.Source: US Federal Trade Commission, FTC testifies before the Joint Economic Committee on efforts to combat fraud (Mar 2026)
• In 2024, bank transfers and payments caused the largest reported US consumer fraud losses ($2.09 billion), followed by cryptocurrency ($1.42 billion).Source: US Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book 2024 (Mar 2025)

• Within the EEA, card payments without strong customer authentication had twice the fraud rate of authenticated payments in 2024, by value and by volume.Source: European Banking Authority and European Central Bank, 2025 Report on payment fraud (Dec 2025)
• Where the other party was outside the EEA, fraud rates without authentication were three times higher by value and four times higher by volume.Source: European Banking Authority and European Central Bank, 2025 Report on payment fraud (Dec 2025)
• Card payment fraud was about 17 times higher when the payee was outside the EEA, where strong authentication is generally not required.Source: European Banking Authority and European Central Bank, Joint EBA-ECB report on payment fraud (Dec 2025)
• About 64% of the value of electronic card payments with EEA-issued cards was authenticated with strong customer authentication in 2024.Source: European Banking Authority and European Central Bank, 2025 Report on payment fraud (Dec 2025)
• Visa reports a 9% lift in approval rates for ecommerce payments authenticated through Visa Secure (EMV 3-D Secure).Source: Visa, 3-D Secure (Visa Protect insights) (2025)
• Authentication solutions such as Visa Secure have given Visa clients a 4% increase in authorization rates and a 7 basis point reduction in fraud on average.Source: Visa, 3-D Secure (Visa Protect insights) (2025)

• Visa's Acquirer Monitoring Program (VAMP) adds fraud reports and disputes together and divides them by settled transactions. Its updated thresholds took effect on 1 June 2025.Source: Visa, Visa Acquirer Monitoring Program Fact Sheet 2025 (2025)
• Since 1 April 2026, a merchant in the US, Canada, EU or Asia Pacific is classed as excessive under VAMP at a ratio of 1.5% (150 basis points) with at least 1,500 fraud reports and disputes a month, down from 2.2%.Source: Visa, Visa Acquirer Monitoring Program Fact Sheet 2025 (2025)
• Acquirers are flagged under VAMP at a portfolio ratio of 0.5% (Above Standard) and 0.7% (Excessive).Source: Visa, Visa Acquirer Monitoring Program Fact Sheet 2025 (2025)
• VAMP flags card testing at an enumeration ratio of 20% or more with at least 300,000 enumerated transactions.Source: Visa, Visa Acquirer Monitoring Program Fact Sheet 2025 (2025)
• Mastercard's Excessive Chargeback Merchant level applies at 100 or more chargebacks in a month and a ratio of 1.5% or more. The High Excessive level applies at 300 or more chargebacks and 3%.Source: Solidgate, describing Mastercard's rules, Mastercard monitoring programs (2026)
• Mastercard's Excessive Fraud Merchant program targets ecommerce merchants with at least 1,000 Mastercard payments, over $50,000 in fraud, a fraud chargeback rate above 0.5% and 3-D Secure on fewer than 10% of payments.Source: Solidgate, describing Mastercard's rules, Mastercard monitoring programs (2026)
• From 1 April 2027, Mastercard's Global Merchant Audit Program adds dispute tiers: a High Dispute Merchant at $5,000 and 5% of sales, and an Excessive Dispute Merchant at $10,000 and 50%.Source: payabl., relaying Mastercard, Mastercard GMAP: what merchants need to do before April 2027 (Aug 2026)
• Mastercard's excessive chargeback ratio is set to fall in steps from 1.5% to 1.3% in 2029, 1.1% in 2030 and 0.9% in 2031, with the minimum staying at 100 chargebacks.Source: payabl., relaying Mastercard, Mastercard GMAP: what merchants need to do before April 2027 (Aug 2026)

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• Great Britain's gambling industry generated £17.5 billion in gross gambling yield in April 2025 to March 2026, of which £8.3 billion came from online casino, betting and bingo.Source: UK Gambling Commission, Industry Statistics, financial year April 2025 to March 2026 (Sep 2026)
• Online casino games generated £5.7 billion of that online yield, and remote betting £2.4 billion.Source: UK Gambling Commission, Industry Statistics, financial year April 2025 to March 2026 (Sep 2026)
• Great Britain had 25.7 million active online gambling accounts at the end of March 2026.Source: UK Gambling Commission, Industry Statistics, financial year April 2025 to March 2026 (Sep 2026)
• Great Britain has banned gambling with credit cards since 14 April 2020. Before the ban, 800,000 people in the UK used credit cards to gamble.Source: UK Gambling Commission, Protecting consumer safety is at the heart of credit card gambling ban (Apr 2020)
• Ontario's regulated igaming market took more than C$103 billion in wagers and generated more than C$4.2 billion in gaming revenue in April 2025 to March 2026.Source: iGaming Ontario, Over 90% of Ontario igaming players choosing regulated market after 4 years of growth (May 2026)
• 91.1% of Ontarians who gambled online did so on regulated sites, up from 83.7% a year earlier.Source: iGaming Ontario, Over 90% of Ontario igaming players choosing regulated market after 4 years of growth (May 2026)
• US commercial igaming revenue grew 27.6% to a record $10.73 billion in 2025.Source: American Gaming Association, State of the States 2026 (May 2026)

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• When ESMA restricted CFDs for retail clients, it found that 74% to 89% of retail accounts typically lose money. Providers must still state their own percentage in every risk warning.Source: European Securities and Markets Authority, ESMA agrees to prohibit binary options and restrict CFDs to protect retail investors (Mar 2018)
• The FCA estimates its retail CFD protections stop nearly 400,000 people a year from risking more than their original stake.Source: UK Financial Conduct Authority, FCA warns investors in CFDs risk losing out on protections (Oct 2025)
• The FCA issued 2,329 warnings about unauthorised or potential scam firms in 2025, up from 2,240 in 2024.Source: UK Financial Conduct Authority, FCA cracks down on illegal promotions and market abuse in first year of new strategy (Jul 2026)
• Investment fraud was the largest source of UK authorised push payment fraud losses in 2025, at £221.5 million, up 40%.Source: UK Finance, Annual Fraud Report 2026, press release (Jun 2026)
• Investment fraud was the costliest crime type reported to the FBI in 2025, with $8.65 billion in losses.Source: FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center, 2025 IC3 Annual Report (Apr 2026)

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• Cryptocurrency-related complaints to the FBI reported $11.37 billion in losses in 2025, across 181,565 complaints, up 21%.Source: FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center, 2025 IC3 Annual Report (Apr 2026)
• Cryptocurrency investment fraud was the largest source of losses to Americans in 2025, at $7.23 billion.Source: FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center, 2025 IC3 Annual Report (Apr 2026)
• Crypto scams received at least $14 billion on-chain in 2025, and Chainalysis estimates the full total at $17 billion.Source: Chainalysis, 2026 Crypto Crime Report: Scams (Jan 2026)
• The average crypto scam payment rose from $782 in 2024 to $2,764 in 2025.Source: Chainalysis, 2026 Crypto Crime Report: Scams (Jan 2026)
• Illicit crypto addresses received at least $154 billion in 2025, still under 1% of attributed on-chain volume.Source: Chainalysis, 2026 Crypto Crime Report Introduction (Jan 2026)

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• The FTC received nearly 70 complaints a day about negative option and subscription practices in 2024, up from 42 a day in 2021.Source: US Federal Trade Commission, Federal Trade Commission Announces Final 'Click-to-Cancel' Rule (Oct 2024)
• Amazon agreed to pay $2.5 billion, a $1 billion penalty and $1.5 billion in refunds, to settle FTC charges over Prime sign-up and cancellation.Source: US Federal Trade Commission, FTC Secures Historic $2.5 Billion Settlement Against Amazon (Sep 2025)
• UK consumers spend an estimated £1.6 billion a year on subscriptions they do not want.Source: UK Government, New measures unveiled to crack down on subscription traps (Nov 2024)
• The UK's new subscription contract rules take effect in January 2027, which the government estimates will save £14 a month for every unwanted subscription.Source: UK Government, PM starts roll out of 'everyday fixes' on the cost of living (Aug 2026)

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• 75% of US adults say they use dietary supplements.Source: Council for Responsible Nutrition (survey by Morning Consult), 2026 CRN Consumer Survey on Dietary Supplements (Oct 2026)
• The FDA has found more than a thousand products sold as dietary supplements or foods that contain hidden drugs or chemicals.Source: US Food and Drug Administration, Tainted Products Marketed as Dietary Supplements and Foods (2025)
• In March 2026 the FDA sent 30 warning letters to telehealth companies over the marketing of compounded GLP-1 weight-loss drugs.Source: US Food and Drug Administration, FDA Warns 30 Telehealth Companies Against Illegal Marketing of Compounded GLP-1s (Mar 2026)

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• Victims of romance and confidence scams reported $929 million in losses to the FBI in 2025.Source: FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center, 2025 IC3 Annual Report (Apr 2026)
• Nearly 60% of people who lost money to a romance scam in 2025 said it started on social media.Source: US Federal Trade Commission, Data Spotlight: Reported losses to scams on social media eight times higher than in 2020 (Apr 2026)
• UK romance fraud losses rose 23% to £39.2 million in 2025.Source: UK Finance, Annual Fraud Report 2026, press release (Jun 2026)

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