The Rise of Cyber Events and Digital Fraud in the Financial Sector

Tanai Khiaonarong and Shanyuan Zheng

No 2026/062, IMF Working Papers from International Monetary Fund

Abstract: Cybersecurity and digital fraud are closely intertwined in financial services, as vulnerabilities in digital systems enable both institutional cyber incidents and fraud against users. This paper uses publicly available data to review and examine important trends underlying the growing concern of digital fraud. The results indicate that, across 20 industry sectors in 162 countries, cyber events in the financial sector accounted for about 10 percent over the past decade and were concentrated primarily in the banking and securities sectors. Cyber-enabled fraud has nearly tripled but remains underestimated due to underreporting and data gaps across jurisdictions. Credit transfers and credit cards dominate scam payments, with rising reports of payment fraud in some jurisdictions alongside increased crypto‑related cyber events and fraud. Industry studies also suggest that scam losses represent a higher share of gross domestic product in developing economies, while advanced economies tend to incur higher individual losses. Targeted regulatory and infrastructure measures have been taken to strengthen trust in digital finance in some jurisdictions.

Keywords: Banks; cyber events; cyber-enabled fraud; digital fraud; financial sector; payment fraud; IMF working papers; scam payment; information sector; credit intermediary; Industrial sector; Credit; Securities; Global; North America (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 36
Date: 2026-03-27
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cob and nep-pay
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