Fraud that passes every security check is a growing problem

Some fraud now looks perfect on the screen. The password is right, the device is familiar and the payment goes through the proper channel. The money still ends up with a criminal. Experts call this 'all-green' fraud, because every warning light stays green. It is a growing worry for banks, payment companies and online marketplaces.

What changed

Banks have long watched for oddities: unusual amounts, unfamiliar devices, strange locations, repeated failed log-ins and mismatched identity details. Those checks still matter. They work poorly when the activity looks completely normal. The key point is that proving who someone is does not prove that the action they are taking is legitimate.

The numbers

UK Finance's Annual Fraud Report 2026 tracks authorised push payment fraud, where the customer approves the payment themselves after being manipulated. Losses reached £576.4m in 2025, up 19 percent year on year. Recorded cases rose 7 percent to 248,070. Criminals are increasingly targeting the people and processes around a payment, not just technical weak spots.

Fake identities and business accounts

Criminals can build convincing identities by mixing made-up and real information. Generative AI makes realistic documents and images easier to produce. Such accounts may behave normally for extended periods before being used to help scams, receive illicit funds or move money between connected entities.

Business accounts raise the same problem. A company can have a real legal identity, a working website and ordinary-looking products while hiding prohibited activity or processing payments for another entity. Single transactions may look unremarkable. The wider pattern is what raises questions.

What to do

• Do not treat a correct password or a familiar phone as proof that a payment is safe.
• Pause before sending money to anyone who pressures you.
• Businesses should ask whether their checks assessed the risk, not only whether activity passed them.

What is not settled

All-green fraud is not a formal fraud category. It describes a detection problem that can appear in social engineering, synthetic identity fraud, merchant fraud and the misuse of legitimate accounts. Unusual business arrangements are also not automatically fraud. Legitimate companies can have complex structures, trade across several countries or see sudden changes in activity. Risk teams must tell real complexity from deliberate concealment.