81% of Suspected Digital Fraud Attacks Target Existing Customer Relationships, TransUnion Finds
CHICAGO, Oct. 22, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- New findings from TransUnion’s (NYSE: TRU) latest global Top Fraud Trends Report show that fraudsters are increasingly exploiting the trust associated with legitimate identities and brands rather than creating fake ones. As the threat evolves, organizations face growing financial consequences, with business leaders estimating fraud losses equivalent to nearly 7% of annual revenue in the past year. Meanwhile, advances in AI and automation are helping criminals open fraudulent accounts, infiltrate existing ones and undermine customer relationships at greater scale.
TransUnion’s report, Fraud in the Age of Continuous Trust, found that 81% of suspected digital fraud globally in H1 2026 occurred during interactions with existing customers, as fraudsters exploit trusted relationships and established accounts.
"As fraudsters increasingly exploit trusted relationships beyond onboarding, organizations need to move to a more connected understanding of trust," said Brian Killeen, vice president of global identity solutions at TransUnion." Harnessing intelligence across the customer lifecycle and applying context to each interaction is critical to identifying emerging threats and enabling trusted interactions."
Additional findings from the report indicate trust is being manipulated at scale through existing communication channels. Nearly one in five outbound business-to-consumer calls with U.S. mobile carriers was spoofed in the first half of 2026, demonstrating how fraudsters can exploit phone network vulnerabilities to impersonate trusted organizations and enable account takeover and payment fraud. Similarly, six in 10 business leaders indicated their customers were victimized by text spoofing in the last year, further illustrating the widespread exploitation of trusted communication channels.
Together, these findings demonstrate how fraudsters increasingly operate outside the enterprise, using communication channels such as phone calls and text messages to manipulate consumers directly on their devices. These scams are often designed to convince victims to open new accounts or grant access to existing ones, fueling a growing wave of scam and authorized fraud, with 35% of U.S. business leaders identifying it as the
leading source of fraud losses.
Scam/Authorized Fraud Was Cited as the Leading Source of Fraud Losses in the U.S. and Worldwide
Business leaders citing these fraud types as their organization’s largest source of losses in the past year
| Account Takeover Fraud | First-Party Fraud | Scam/Authorized Fraud | Synthetic Identity Fraud | Third-Party Fraud | |
| U.S. | 16% | 18% | 35% | 18% | 9% |
| Global | 17% | 15% | 29% | 18% | 17% |
Source: TransUnion business fraud survey, June 2026
The study also examined where fraud occurs across the customer lifecycle and how risks differ by industry. Key findings include:
- Retail: Account creation risk is especially high due to promotion abuse, as customers often need accounts to access discounts. At the same time, retailers typically use lower-friction identity verification to remain competitive.
- Financial Services: While account creation presents immediate risk of fraud, transaction related activities pose even greater risk. This underscores the importance of connecting identity, behavioral and transactional intelligence to identify emerging threats throughout the customer relationship
- Gaming (online gambling and betting): Fraud risk remains high throughout the customer lifecycle. While strong identity verification helps reduce some threats, fraudsters still target new accounts for bonus abuse, with additional risks emerging during account logins and transactions.
“Fraud risk is shaped by context. Across industries, these findings show how threats evolve throughout the customer journey, revealing where organizations are most exposed and why effective fraud prevention must adapt to the specific interaction and threat,” said Clint Lowry, vice president of global fraud strategy at TransUnion.
AI is Accelerating Fraud, Demanding Faster, More Adaptive Defenses
The report also shows that fraud is becoming more adaptive and harder to contain. AI has fundamentally changed the economics of fraud by automating activities that once required significant human effort, including creating identities, generating content and targeting victims. This allows fraudsters to accelerate and scale their attacks faster than organizations can adapt their detection capabilities and mitigation strategies.
Forty three percent of U.S. business leaders said the growing scale and sophistication of fraud is placing significant or severe pressure on their organizations. Synthetic identity fraud is a key concern, with 67% expecting it to increase over the next two years and 53% citing it as the threat they are least prepared to address.
In the U.S., 51% of business leaders reported increased scam and authorized fraud activity over the past year. U.S. lenders face an estimated $2.4 billion in exposure tied to synthetic identities as of June 30, 2026.
Killeen added, “AI is accelerating the pace at which fraudsters develop, scale and adapt their attacks. To keep pace, organizations must shorten the time between detecting emerging threats, learning from them and adapting their defenses, turning intelligence into action before vulnerabilities can be exploited.”
To learn more about the findings in Fraud in the Age of Continuous Trust, click here.
To learn more about how TransUnion Fraud Solutions help organizations identify emerging fraud earlier, strengthen digital trust and protect customer relationships while maintaining friction-right experiences, click here.
About TransUnion (NYSE: TRU)
TransUnion is a global information and insights company with over 13,000 associates operating in more than 30 countries. We make trust possible by ensuring each person is reliably represented in the marketplace. We do this with a Tru™ picture of each person: an actionable view of consumers, stewarded with care. Through our acquisitions and technology investments, we have developed innovative solutions that extend beyond our strong foundation in core credit into areas such as marketing, fraud, risk and advanced analytics. As a result, consumers and businesses can transact with confidence and achieve great things. We call this Information for Good® — and it leads to economic opportunity, great experiences and personal empowerment for millions of people around the world.
http://www.transunion.com/business
| Contact | Dave Blumberg TransUnion |
| david.blumberg@transunion.com | |
| Telephone | 312-972-6646 |
