Central Bank of Estonia-led Payment Forum plans joint action list and regulatory measures to curb rising payment fraud

The Central Bank of Estonia published conclusions from the 15 January meeting of the Estonian Payment Forum, noting a substantial rise in payment fraud alongside the growth of electronic payments and e-commerce. The forum identified customer awareness, stronger cooperation among banks and payment service providers, and European regulation on instant payments as central to improving prevention, with cross-border online purchases and social engineering scams highlighted as common vectors. Participants pointed to the need for more effective interventions, including regulatory tools that could enable faster blocking of fraudulent websites and allow telecommunications companies to shut down phone numbers used for scams, as well as measures that make it harder for criminals to move stolen funds after a fraud. Central bank data show 18,300 incidents of card fraud involving Estonian bank cards in 2023 causing losses of EUR 2.6 million, and 5,800 fraudulent payment orders totalling EUR 10.6 million; card fraud incidence was 4 per 100,000 transactions in Estonia versus 15 per 100,000 in Europe overall, while payment-order fraud was comparatively worse in Estonia. A large share of fraud occurs in payments outside Europe where strong authentication is not always required. Before the next Estonian Payment Forum meeting planned for spring 2025, members will draw up a joint public-private action list of vulnerabilities that can be addressed collectively. The forum also referenced the European Commission’s 2023 proposals to update payment-services rules on fraud information-sharing, payment authorisation and consumer recovery, which EU member states are discussing and which could apply from 2027 if agreed in 2025.