The rise in digital interactions also increases the risks businesses face.
As communications, transactions, and customer journeys become increasingly digital, fraud attempts are evolving and can exploit both technical flaws and human vulnerabilities.
Phishing, identity theft, and document forgery: these methods are becoming more diverse and complex, directly challenging businesses’ ability to secure their digital transactions without complicating the experience for their customers and teams.
This trend is also evident in the responses from the 700 decision-makers surveyed in France, Germany, Italy, and Spain as part of the 2026 European Digital Trust Barometer, conducted by Namirial in partnership with Xerfi. While perceptions of the threat vary by market, the fight against fraud has emerged as an essential component of digital trust.
Faced with risks that evolve alongside changing user behaviors, the challenge is no longer merely to detect fraud attempts as they occur. It is also about designing customer journeys that can better prevent them, while maintaining the fluidity of digital interactions.
Digital fraud: growing pressure on businesses
The rise in digital fraud is not perceived with the same intensity throughout Europe. While the threat affects all the markets studied, businesses report very different realities depending on the country.
In Italy, 72% of decision-makers report having observed an increase in fraud attempts over the past twelve months. This proportion stands at 64% in France and 59% in Spain, compared to 36% in Germany.
These differences do not necessarily mean that some companies are more vulnerable than others. They may also reflect differences in the nature of the attacks encountered, their frequency, their detection, or even the organizations’ ability to identify them.
Nevertheless, one thing is certain: fraud evolves alongside changes in digital usage. As interactions become more diverse, the number of potential points of contact that can be exploited increases. The threat therefore no longer concerns only IT systems, but the entire digital journey and all digital transactions.
Understanding this evolution therefore requires examining the techniques used by fraudsters, who seek both to circumvent security measures and to exploit users’ trust.
Fraud techniques that target both people and processes
Fraud attempts do not rely solely on exploiting a technical vulnerability. They also seek to take advantage of human behavior and the various steps that make up a digital journey.
Phishing and identity theft are particularly illustrative of this trend. In these situations, the goal is often to impersonate a legitimate person or organization in order to obtain information, trigger an action, or gain access to a service. Fraud can thus occur well before a transaction is completed.
Digital processes also constitute potential entry points. Whether it’s creating an account, authenticating a user, validating a document, signing a document, or completing a transaction – each step can be exploited if the mechanisms for verifying identity, the authenticity of information, or the legitimacy of an action are not sufficiently tailored to the risk.
The fight against fraud cannot, therefore, rely solely on detecting suspicious activity. It also requires securing the entire user journey and better determining who is behind a digital interaction.
In this context, identity becomes a central element: being able to verify with sufficient certainty that a person is indeed who they claim to be is one of the primary ways to minimize fraud.
Identity becomes a critical link in the fight against fraud
As interactions increasingly take place remotely, establishing the identity of a person or organization has become a major challenge. Fraud can begin as soon as a bad actor manages to impersonate a legitimate user.
Identity verification and authentication thus emerge as a strategic first line of defense. Their role, however, is not limited to controlling access to a service: they also help secure the various actions carried out during a user journey, particularly when these actions involve a high level of risk.
Traceability complements this approach by enabling the retention of the information needed to trace an interaction and establish evidence of the actions taken. The challenge is thus to create a continuous chain of trust throughout the user journey, from initial identification to the validation of a transaction.
However, strengthening controls at every step is not always the most appropriate solution. Overly restrictive verification mechanisms can slow down user journeys and create friction for users. This can ultimately impact revenue by increasing the number of abandoned journeys.
Securing digital transactions without compromising the user experience
Enhancing the security of a digital journey may seem straightforward: add more checks to reduce the potential for fraud. But each additional step can also create friction, lengthen the journey, or cause some users to abandon it.
Conversely, striving for an ever-smoother experience by reducing verification steps can weaken security and increase risks. The challenge, therefore, is less about choosing between security and simplicity than it is about determining the appropriate level of verification for the risk level of each user journey.
Not all actions carry the same level of risk. A credit application, opening an account, renting a vehicle… each transaction involves different regulatory requirements and constraints. Verification mechanisms can therefore vary depending on the context, the sensitivity of the transaction, or the risk signals identified.
This approach allows for stricter controls when they are truly necessary, without systematically imposing the same level of restrictions on all users and all user journeys.
Striking this balance is essential for building user journeys that are both secure and seamless. This is especially true given that technological advancements, particularly in artificial intelligence, are now improving not only the methods used by fraudsters but also the tools available to detect fraud attempts.
AI and fraud: a new race between attack and defense
Artificial intelligence is shifting the balance of power between fraudsters and companies. By making it easier to create credible content and personalize certain attacks, it can make fraud attempts harder for users to identify.
This trend particularly affects techniques based on impersonation and social engineering. Messages, documents, images, or voice recordings can be generated or manipulated to more effectively mimic a person or organization and bolster the credibility of a fraud attempt.
But AI can also become a defensive tool. Behavioral analysis, anomaly detection, and the identification of unusual signals can help companies spot certain suspicious activities more quickly and tailor their controls to the level of risk.
A new dynamic is thus emerging: as fraud techniques become more sophisticated, protective measures must also evolve. The solution, therefore, cannot rely on a single technology or control, but on the ability to combine multiple prevention and detection mechanisms.
From reaction to prevention: building more secure user journeys
In the face of evolving fraud techniques, intervening only when an attempt is detected is no longer sufficient. Protection must be planned in advance, starting with the design of digital customer journeys, in order to reduce opportunities for exploitation at every stage.
This approach involves identifying the most vulnerable points in a user journey and applying appropriate protective measures at those points. Identity verification, authentication, risk signal analysis, transaction security, and traceability can thus be implemented at different levels depending on the nature of the digital transaction.
The goal is to build an adaptive and progressive defense. Prevent fraud whenever possible, detect suspicious behavior early enough, and have the necessary resources to respond when a fraud attempt occurs.
This approach also moves beyond a one-size-fits-all approach to security. Rather than systematically applying the same controls, companies can increase their vigilance where the risk is greatest and adapt their measures to evolving threats.
Fraud prevention thus becomes an integral part of digital customer journeys. This is an essential development for protecting transactions and the business, as well as for maintaining the trust of customers and partners.
Combating fraud: a prerequisite for digital trust
Digital fraud is not merely a financial or operational risk. It can also undermine the trust that stakeholders, such as customers, employees, partners, and, more broadly, the market and regulatory bodies, place in a company.
As these digital transactions play an increasingly important role in our daily lives, their reliability becomes essential.
Being able to verify an identity, secure a transaction, detect a fraud attempt, or maintain a record of evidence helps create an environment in which users can interact with greater confidence.
The challenge for companies is now to adapt user journeys and processes at the same pace as evolving threats, while keeping interactions simple and seamless enough for users.
Strengthening digital trust involves both limiting the risk of fraud and preserving the quality of the user experience.
To learn how European decision-makers view the evolution of fraud, the main threats they face, the measures implemented in France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, and their long-term goals, consult Namirial’s 2026 European Digital Trust Barometer.
