First-Party Fraud Surges- Leading Threat 2025

Key Insights from the Latest LexisNexis® Risk Solutions Cybercrime Report

May 14, 2025

The cybersecurity landscape is undergoing a significant transformation in 2025, with first-party fraud now representing the dominant threat to businesses globally. According to the recently released LexisNexis® Risk Solutions annual Cybercrime Report, first-party fraud now accounts for 36% of all reported fraud incidents worldwide, marking a substantial increase from just 15% in the previous year.

What is First-Party Fraud?

First-party fraud occurs when individuals deliberately provide false information or misrepresent themselves for financial gain. Common examples include:

• Submitting false information on loan applications
• Disputing legitimate transactions (friendly fraud)
• Falsely claiming non-delivery of ordered goods
• Misrepresenting identity information during account creation

This shift represents a major challenge for businesses across all sectors but particularly affects financial institutions and Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) providers.

The Changing Landscape of Cybercrime

The LexisNexis® report, titled “The Calm Before the Storm?”, analyzed over 104 billion global transactions throughout 2024, revealing several important trends:

Fraud Type	2024 Percentage	Year-on-Year Change
First-Party Fraud	36%	↑ 21%
Account Takeover Fraud	27%	↓ 2%
Scams/APP Fraud	11%	↓ 5%

Perhaps most concerning is the vulnerability of password reset functions, with 1 in 9 password reset attempts identified as fraudulent attacks, climbing to an alarming 27% of attempts initiated from desktop computers.

Regional Variations in Attack Patterns

The report highlights significant regional differences in attack patterns:

• EMEA: Lowest regional attack rate globally at 0.6% of transactions
• LATAM: Decreasing attack rate (1.6%), now lower than North America
• North America: Attack rate of 2.2% of transactions
• APAC: Growing attack rate (1.5%), showing a 37% increase through 2024

Why This Matters for Your Business

This shift toward first-party fraud represents a particular challenge for payment processors and merchants. Traditional fraud detection systems are often optimized to detect third-party fraud rather than misrepresentation by the customers themselves.

As Stephen Topliss, vice president of fraud and identity at LexisNexis Risk Solutions, notes: “These findings represent a notable shift in global fraud patterns, with consumers now emerging as the single largest source of human-initiated fraud.”

Supporting Evidence from Additional Sources

This trend is not isolated to the LexisNexis report. According to McKinsey’s 2025 Global Payments Report, first-party fraud has increased by 43% since 2023, with economic pressures cited as a primary driver.

The Federal Trade Commission has similarly reported a 52% increase in first-party fraud complaints over the past 18 months, with financial services being the most targeted sector.

Looking Ahead: The AI-Powered Storm on the Horizon

While overall attack rates have stabilized with only a 1% increase in human attacks and a 15% decrease in global bot attacks, experts warn that this relative calm may be misleading.

“We are at a potential tipping point,” warns Topliss. “While many organizations have improved their defenses over the past few years, we also know that cybercriminals are embracing new, innovative, AI-enhanced capabilities, and we will likely see these extensively tested and executed over the coming months.”

Sector-Specific Vulnerabilities

Certain industries face heightened risks:

• Communication, Mobile, and Media companies: 15% increase in attack rates
• Financial Services: 18% increase in automated bot attacks

How IntelliPay Protects Your Business

At IntelliPay, we’re committed to staying ahead of these evolving threats. Our fraud prevention solutions employ advanced machine learning algorithms specifically designed to detect first-party fraud indicators, including:

• Behavioral analytics that flag unusual applicant patterns
• Advanced identity verification processes
• Transaction monitoring that identifies suspicious activity patterns

Conclusion: Preparing for the Next Wave

The data suggests we’re experiencing the calm before a potential storm of AI-enhanced fraud attacks. Organizations must adapt their fraud prevention strategies to address both traditional threats and the rising challenge of first-party fraud.

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This blog post contains information from the LexisNexis® Risk Solutions annual Cybercrime Report released on May 13, 2025. The original press release can be found here.

[1] Global refers to transactions processed through the LexisNexis® Digital Identity Network®