France’s payment-fraud report puts manipulation in the spotlight

France’s payment-security observatory has published its report for 2025, with a warning about scams that persuade people to authorise payments themselves. The Banque de France release, dated 9 September 2026, records €516 million in manipulation-based fraud during 2025. That is more than 40% of the total value of payment fraud.

The wider picture is mixed. The observatory says the number of fraudulent transactions fell by 8%, while their total value rose by 3.8%. Card and cheque fraud rates reached historically low levels. Fewer fraudulent operations and a larger financial loss can coexist; counting incidents alone does not describe the damage.

Different measures tell different stories

The report includes fake bank advisers, impersonated company executives and substituted bank-account details among manipulation methods. It also describes beneficiary verification introduced in October 2025 and a national file of accounts flagged for fraud risk operating since May 2026. These are safeguards, rather than a promise that every deceptive instruction will be stopped.

The direction of travel has not been uniform. In January 2025, Le Monde reported a decline in manipulation fraud during the first half of 2024, alongside stronger detection and telephone-authentication measures. That earlier report is historical context, not independent confirmation of the new annual totals. Different periods and measures should not be collapsed into a single uninterrupted trend.

How the false-adviser approach works

Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr explains the fake-adviser mechanism in its Consomag guidance: a caller claims to be responding to suspicious account activity, then asks for a code or an action in the banking app. The apparent protective step can instead authorise the fraud. Knowing personal details, or displaying a familiar phone number, can make the request seem credible.

The guidance says not to disclose passwords or confirmation codes and not to validate operations you did not initiate. It also warns that phishing messages may have supplied the personal information used to make the later call persuasive. The pressure to act quickly is a reason to pause and verify the situation through your bank’s established contact route.

If money or account access has been compromised, the same guidance recommends alerting the bank promptly, securing access and preserving evidence for a complaint. Ask the bank about blocking the affected card and recovering the funds. The steps needed depend on what happened; this article does not promise automatic reimbursement.

Written for WHIF from the linked material. This article does not claim on-the-ground reporting. Our editorial standards.