Malta among Europe’s worst-hit countries for payment fraud

Malta has emerged as one of the worst-affected European countries for payment fraud on a per-incident basis, according to a new analysis by forex experts at BrokerChooser, even though its overall losses remain comparatively low.

The study, based on the European Banking Authority’s data for the first half of 2023, places Malta in eighth place for average financial loss per fraud case, at €375 per incident. That figure is significantly higher than the European average of €314 and starkly contrasts with southern European counterparts such as Portugal, Spain and Italy, where losses per fraud are generally below €135.

In total, Malta recorded 10,024 fraud incidents during the six-month period, leading to a cumulative financial loss of just under €3.76 million. Despite being the second lowest total loss among all countries studied, the relatively high loss per case underscores a disproportionate impact on individual victims and businesses alike.

Credit transfers behind most of the financial damage

Malta’s payment fraud landscape appears to be shifting towards higher-value but fewer cases. While card issuer fraud accounted for the majority of incidents (8,247 cases), the biggest financial hit came from credit transfers, amounting to €2.28 million – roughly 60 per cent of all losses. This suggests that while card fraud remains more common, more sophisticated and costly attacks are increasingly targeting direct account transfers.

The data also indicates losses from other channels including cash withdrawals (€14,335) and e-money fraud (€131,185), although these represent a smaller share of the total.

To visualise the economic impact, BrokerChooser translated these losses into full-time earnings. With a median hourly wage of €10.30, it would take the combined annual net income of around 492 full-time Maltese workers to recover the nation’s payment fraud losses for the first half of 2023 alone.

Northern Europe bears the biggest cost

The report found that the highest average losses per fraud case were recorded in Finland (€593), Iceland (€545), and Norway (€488). Finland alone reported €23.6 million in losses from 39,874 cases, largely driven by credit transfers.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, Portugal reported the lowest average loss per incident (€64) despite a high number of frauds. Spain (€98) and Italy (€133) rounded out the three countries with the least financial impact per case.

The findings serve as a stark reminder that while the total fraud-related losses in Malta may be modest in comparison, the individual impact remains substantial – and growing.