Payment fraud in Cyprus rose sharply in the second half of 2024, though the island still recorded fewer incidents than the eurozone average, according to the report of the Central Bank of Cyprus (CBC).

The total volume of fraudulent transactions jumped 34 per cent year-on-year to 14,000, while the value increased by 26 per cent to €3 million.

By comparison, the eurozone saw a smaller rise of 7 per cent in volume and 22 per cent in value.

Card payments accounted for the vast majority of cases, with 13,000 incidents representing 94 per cent of the total.

However, their financial impact was lower, amounting to €1.2m or 39 per cent of overall losses. Almost all involved unauthorised transactions, mostly online scams, with 95 per cent taking place over the internet, while fraud at physical points of sale remained limited.

Credit transfer fraud, though fewer in number, generated higher losses of around €1.8m, equal to 60 per cent of the total.

In this category, the main problem was payer manipulation, also known as authorised push payment (APP) scams, which made up three-quarters of such incidents.

The report also warned that cross-border transactions were particularly vulnerable. Card payments outside Cyprus were 25 times more likely to be fraudulent than domestic ones, while cross-border credit transfers were ten times riskier.

Meanwhile, strong customer authentication (SCA) emerged as an effective safeguard, with scam rates five times lower in transactions where it was applied.

In contrast, cheques and direct debits recorded negligible cases.

Despite the increase, scams accounted for only a fraction of overall payments, below 0.002 per cent for cards and 0.01 per cent for credit transfers. Fraud levels in Cyprus remain below the eurozone average, both in terms of cases and the money involved, the CBC said.