{"id":1625,"date":"2025-11-06T06:40:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T06:40:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/platforms.worldpay.com\/en\/?p=1625"},"modified":"2026-04-17T01:20:57","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T01:20:57","slug":"10-types-of-payment-fraud-and-how-software-companies-can-stay-vigilant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/platforms.worldpay.com\/en\/blog\/10-types-of-payment-fraud-and-how-software-companies-can-stay-vigilant\/","title":{"rendered":"10 types of payment fraud and how software companies can stay vigilant"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Scams and payment fraud continue to pose a significant threat to Australians and the businesses that serve them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


According to the ACCC<\/a>, Australians reported more than $2 billion in scam-related financial losses in 2025.<\/strong> Of the 481,523 scam reports submitted, 274,577 involved financial losses, totalling $2.18 billion<\/strong>. While the number of reports has remained relatively stable, losses increased by 7.8% compared with 2024<\/strong>. Encouragingly, this figure represents a 29.7% reduction from the peak of $3.1 billion recorded in 2022<\/strong>, reflecting the impact of increased awareness, prevention initiatives, and enforcement \u2014 but also reinforcing the need to remain vigilant as fraud tactics evolve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond scams, payment\u2011related fraud remains widespread. Australian Bureau of Statistics data<\/a> for FY 2024\u201325 shows that 10% of Australians (approximately 2.3 million people) experienced card fraud<\/strong>, a rate consistent with the previous financial year. While overall scam victimisation declined slightly \u2014 from 3.1% in 2023\u201324 to 2.7% in 2024\u201325<\/strong>, card fraud continues to affect millions of Australians each year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


For businesses that process payments, especially through digital platforms, these figures highlight an important shift: fraud is increasingly targeting payment infrastructure itself. As more transactions move online and into software platforms, payment fraud becomes not just a financial risk but a product and trust risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For software companies embedding payments into their platform, an understanding of payment fraud is critical. Beyond protecting cardholder data and minimising losses, effective fraud prevention helps maintain customer trust, regulatory compliance, brand reputation, operational efficiency, and long\u2011term growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout this blog, we delve into what payment fraud is, the most prevalent types of fraud, and introduce payment fraud detection and prevention through the lens of a software company embedding payments into their core product offering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re new to payments or trying to determine if Embedded Payments are right for you<\/a>, this blog will serve as a helpful introduction to the evolving payments fraud landscape and what to look out for to ensure your payments data is safe from fraudsters and their sophisticated attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is payment fraud?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Payment fraud is any activity that manipulates payment systems to access funds or financial information illegally. Real-life examples of payments fraud include identity theft, unauthorised purchases, chargeback fraud, refund fraud, and more. These activities can significantly affect businesses and consumers. To protect payments processed through your platform, you\u2019ll want to stay informed about the latest types of fraud and prevention and detection methods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Types of payment fraud<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There are several types of payment fraud that software companies should be aware of to ensure the safety of their users\u2019 financial and payments data. Below are the most prevalent types. We will discuss how to detect and prevent these types of fraudulent activities in the next section.<\/p>\n\n\n\n