Dutch payment fraud rises 30% in 2025, losses reach €198 million
Fraud involving bank transfers, card payments, and cash withdrawals in the Netherlands rose 30 percent in 2025 to about 658,000 cases, according to figures published by De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB). Total losses increased 22 percent to 198 million euros.
DNB said fraud was spotted in seven out of every 100,000 payment transactions last year. Of about 27 million daily transactions, roughly 1,800 were fraudulent. That equals about 540,000 euros in fraud per day, out of roughly 13 billion euros in daily payments.
European bank transfer fraud recorded the largest increase. Cases rose 55 percent to 129,000. Losses reached about 148 million euros in 2025, up from about 121 million euros in 2024.
Card payment fraud remained the most common category. There were 514,000 fraudulent in-person and online transactions in 2025, up more than 25 percent from the previous year. Total losses rose to 41 million euros from 36 million euros in 2024. Cash withdrawal fraud also increased. Cases rose from about 12,000 to 15,000. Losses increased from 6 million to about 10 million euros.
DNB said the figures include fraudulent transactions identified by payment service providers, including fully unauthorized payments and cases where victims were tricked into authorizing transfers. The totals also include transactions later reversed or reimbursed.
The sharp increase in fraud in Dutch payment transactions is “very bad news,” said Dutch consumer advocacy group Consumentenbond. It is also very surprising to see fraudulent transactions jump by a third, bringing damage estimates near 200 million euros, considering the many campaigns running to warn people about phishing, and scams involving criminals impersonating bank customer support teams swindling people out of their money.
Banks are already doing a great deal to combat fraud, but warnings alone do not seem to be enough, the Consumentenbond said. “Scammers are highly sophisticated. More needs to be done, for example, a waiting period of four hours, also when increasing the daily limit for cash withdrawals and card limits,” a spokesperson said. “We have pointed this out to the banks multiple times,” she added.
Still, some 70 percent of all online fraud now starts on social media, according to Dutch banking association NVB. The banks feel it is essential for social media companies to do more to protect customers against fraud. The banks issued an appeal about this issue in April
On this point, the Consumentenbond agrees. The issue is not just with the banks, but also with social media, advertising networks, and search engines. The advocacy group reiterated that online platforms, such as Meta and Google, must do more to combat misleading advertisements.
They believe the approach to tackling malicious advertisers is currently handled very slowly, and is not particularly thorough. “The platforms apparently do not feel the urgency. In fact, they profit from malicious advertisements,” the spokesperson continued.
Consumer groups also want victims to be able to claw back their money more easily. Therefore, the Consumentenbond is advocating for a single central reporting point when it comes to payment fraud.
Online fraud is a societal problem with often far-reaching financial and emotional consequences for the victims, said the NVB. Banks will continue to work on making people more resilient, including through the current campaigns running to raise awareness to fraud.
One such campaign is meant to alert people not only to phishing and helpdesk scams, but also fraud in the cryptocurrency space, and how scammers sometimes use video and podcasts to trick people. Consumers can also take quizzes to test how well they can recognize and prevent fraud, and answers to frequently asked questions are provided.
