Dive Brief:

• Nearly a third of consumers have not taken any measures to secure their credit cards over the past 90 days, according to a J.D. Power survey released Tuesday. Meanwhile, a third of respondents said they’ve reviewed their transactions for any suspicious activity, only 18% have updated their account passwords, the survey of 40,197 U.S. consumers found.
• About a quarter of respondents (24%) said they have experienced credit card fraud in the last year, with the groups most likely to have experienced it being Gen Z consumers (41%), financially strapped consumers (40%) and men (27%), the survey said.
• A fifth of survey respondents reported their debit card being declined due to fraud over the past year. In instances when banks suspect a transaction is fraudulent, 69% prefer the bank to decline the purchase, and 70% want issuers to stop the transaction, per the survey results.

Dive Insight:

The J.D. Power survey offered insights into how card issuers are enlisting their customers to address the problem. The survey suggests a divide over whether card issuers are encouraging consumers to take additional security measures, with 45% saying their issuers have prompted them to do so in the past 90 days and 55% saying the opposite.  

“Financial institutions are spending billions on cybersecurity to address the constant threat of fraud, but there’s only so much they can do on their own,” Jennifer White, senior director for banking and payments intelligence at J.D. Power, said in the release. “Customers really need to do their part by making use of the various tools provided to protect their accounts, but many are still not aware of the resources that are out there to help them.”

As card issuers warn some consumers to strengthen their security measures, financial losses from card fraud are predicted to mount in the coming years. A Nilson Report released in January suggested fraud losses in card payments will reach $403.88 billion globally over the next ten years. Card-not-present transactions in the U.S. are particularly at risk, the report noted.  

Although fraud losses are expected to rise, a significant hindrance to tracking fraud is the stigma associated with falling victim to fraud. While consumers reported fraud losses exceeding $10 billion in the U.S. in 2023, the true figure might have surpassed $158 billion when accounting for underreporting, according to a 2024 Federal Trade Commission report.

During the virtual “Fighting Payments Fraud in 2025” panel hosted earlier this year, Stephanie Tatar, founder of Tatar Law Firm, highlighted the emotional toll of fraud victimization on consumers, in addition to the damage caused by losing funds.