2025 Payments & Fraud Trends: What Merchants Need to Know (and Do Next)

The world of eCommerce doesn’t slow down. Neither do fraudsters. And the 2025 Global eCommerce Payments & Fraud Report makes that clearer than ever.

This year’s research draws insights from over 1,000 merchants across 38 countries - ranging from small businesses to global enterprises. It sheds light on what’s working in payment acceptance, what’s changing in fraud management, and where businesses are focusing their energy in the year ahead.

Whether you're a SMB or enterprise, the data tells a story of changing habits, smarter technology, and a clear shift toward real-time payments and post-purchase vigilance.

About the 2025 Global eCommerce Payments & Fraud Report

The 2025 Global eCommerce Payments & Fraud Report is an annual industry study published by the Merchant Risk Council (MRC) in collaboration with Cybersource, a Visa solution. Based on responses from over 1,000 global merchants across 38 countries, the report provides a detailed look into emerging trends, fraud tactics, and payment practices shaping the eCommerce landscape. Covering everything from payment method adoption and fraud rates to technology investments and operational challenges, it serves as one of the most comprehensive benchmarks in the industry today.

For SMBs, check our key findings from the report specifically tailored to SMBs.

What’s Changing in 2025: Key Findings from the Global eCommerce Payments & Fraud Report

• Real-Time Payments Come With Real-Time Risk
  Real-time payments (RTP) continue to gain momentum—37% of merchants already offer them, and most expect customer usage to keep rising. But speed comes at a cost: 45% of merchants experienced RTP fraud in the past 12 months, making it the second most common fraud type in 2025.

  Because RTPs settle instantly and are irreversible, there’s no window for dispute recovery. That makes them attractive to both customers and fraudsters. Without strong pre-authorization checks, AI-based risk monitoring, and real-time behavioral analysis, merchants risk being caught in the crossfire.

• Tokenization is evolving
  60% of merchants are using tokenization, and there’s a clear shift toward network tokens as gateway token use declines. The benefits are compelling: stronger security, improved authorization rates, and a smoother card-on-file experience for customers.
• Fraud is shifting post-purchase
  First-party misuse, card testing and triangulation schemes are on the decline - but refund abuse and first-party misuse remain stubbornly high.
• Spotlight on Post-Purchase Fraud
  Refund or policy abuse was the most common type of fraud in 2025, affecting 47% of merchants.
  From false “item not received” claims to returns of used goods, it’s clear this post-purchase threat isn’t just growing—it’s now the leading fraud vector in eCommerce.
• Merchants are doubling down on technology
  Manual reviews are falling. Over half of merchants are using generative AI or plan to adopt it soon. But the challenge isn’t just about having tools - it’s about using them well. 80% of merchants report struggles with data quality, integration, or tech capability gaps.

Five Things Every Merchant Should Be Doing in 2025

1. Make Real-Time Payments Part of Your Mix—But With Safeguards
   If you’re not offering RTP yet, it’s worth exploring. Faster settlements, smoother customer experiences, and higher conversion rates are driving adoption across regions.
   But with 45% of merchants reporting RTP fraud, real-time speed must be matched with real-time security. That means layered pre-auth risk checks, velocity limits, and behavior-based fraud monitoring—especially for new or high-value users.
2. Move Toward Network Tokenization
   Tokenization isn't new, but network tokens are. They offer dynamic, issuer-linked updates and reduce declines. As more card-on-file models depend on seamless renewals and fewer declines, network tokens are becoming foundational for secure, high-performing payments.
3. Treat Post-Purchase Fraud as a Priority, Not a Nuisance
   Refund abuse and friendly fraud are rising because consumers have learned to “game the system,” and dispute rules often favor them. If over half of merchants are seeing refund abuse rise, it’s time to treat post-purchase fraud with the same seriousness as checkout-stage threats.
4. Layer Your Fraud Defense with AI, SCA, and Smart Routing
   Over 90% of merchants report using at least one authorization-boosting tactic. But stronger results come from combining them - smart authentication, tokenization, account updates, and AI-driven fraud scoring. Each piece adds resilience, especially when fraud is shifting across the transaction lifecycle.
5. Think Multi-Acquirer from the Start
   Merchants using multiple acquirers benefit from more than just redundancy. They gain flexibility, better uptime, and region-specific optimization, essential for scaling globally or recovering from unexpected disruptions. Building this capability early creates breathing room for future growth.

How CatalystPay Can Help

At CatalystPay, we support merchants in building payment setups that do more than just work—they adapt, scale, and protect. Whether you’re expanding into real-time payments, looking to implement network tokenization, or strengthening your fraud strategy across checkout and post-purchase stages, we’re here to help you do it with confidence. Our multi-acquirer infrastructure, built-in fraud tools, and hands-on support team make it easier to respond to change without missing a beat.

Final Thought

Fraud is evolving - and so are your options. The most prepared merchants aren’t just reacting faster, they’re planning smarter. At CatalystPay, we’re here to support that kind of resilience with the tools, infrastructure, and flexibility your business deserves.