Half of Global Execs Can't Keep Pace with New Fraud, Study Finds

PARSIPPANY, N.J. – February 16, 2026 – A staggering 50 percent of credit risk and fraud executives worldwide admit their organizations are unable to detect and react quickly enough to new and evolving fraud trends. The finding, part of a new global survey sponsored by AI decisioning firm Provenir, paints a stark picture of a corporate world on the defensive, struggling to keep pace with the speed and sophistication of modern financial crime.

The study, conducted by The Harris Poll among 203 senior executives, highlights a critical inflection point. As fraudsters increasingly weaponize artificial intelligence and exploit digital channels, businesses are caught in a high-stakes balancing act: how to erect stronger defenses without alienating customers with cumbersome security hurdles. The pressure is mounting, forcing a strategic shift toward more dynamic, intelligent, and adaptive methods of fraud prevention.

The New Face of Fraud: An AI-Powered Arms Race

The survey's findings reflect a grim reality on the front lines of cybersecurity. The term "new fraud trends" no longer refers to simple scams but to a rapidly evolving category of technologically advanced attacks. Experts point to an escalating arms race where criminals are leveraging the same AI technologies that businesses use for defense.

One of the most concerning threats is the rise of synthetic identity fraud, where criminals combine real and fabricated information to create entirely new, fictitious identities. These “Frankenstein” personas are used to open accounts and build credit histories before maxing out credit lines and disappearing, leaving financial institutions with losses that are difficult to trace and often miscategorized as credit defaults.

Simultaneously, AI-powered phishing and deepfake technologies are making social engineering attacks more convincing than ever. AI can now generate hyper-personalized phishing emails at scale, while deepfake audio and video can be used to impersonate executives or trusted customers, bypassing traditional identity verification methods. For the 75 percent of organizations now deploying AI-driven adaptive fraud prevention, the challenge is ensuring their own models can outsmart the ones being used by their adversaries.

This technological battleground extends to the speed of transactions. With the near-universal adoption of real-time payments, the window to detect and stop a fraudulent transaction has shrunk from hours or days to mere milliseconds. This environment renders older, batch-based fraud detection systems obsolete and underscores why 74 percent of surveyed organizations are now leveraging real-time anomaly detection.

A Mandate for Change: Executives on the Front Lines

The immense pressure is forcing a strategic re-evaluation within executive suites. The Provenir study reveals that leaders are looking beyond simple fixes and toward fundamental changes in their operational and data strategies. When asked about the most important elements of a comprehensive fraud strategy, gaining a holistic risk view of customer data was the top priority for 33 percent of respondents.

This points to a growing recognition that siloed information is a critical vulnerability. The survey found that 22 percent of executives believe aligning data at the customer level—rather than by individual channel—is crucial, while 19 percent emphasized the need to break down data silos between fraud and credit risk teams. These teams have historically operated independently, but the nature of modern fraud requires a unified approach to risk assessment.

Moving forward, the goals are clear. A majority of executives are focused on enhancing operational efficiency and automation (54%) and improving the accuracy of their AI and machine learning models (54%). Close behind is the fundamental goal of reducing fraud losses (52%). However, the objectives now extend far beyond the risk department, tying directly into broader business success. An even greater number of leaders hope their improved strategies will increase customer retention and loyalty (57%) and improve overall profitability (51%).

Balancing Security with a Seamless Customer Journey

Perhaps the most delicate challenge highlighted by the survey is the inherent tension between security and customer experience. While bolstering defenses is paramount, creating excessive friction—such as lengthy verification processes or false positives that decline legitimate transactions—can drive customers away. A significant 55 percent of executives cited enhancing the customer experience and reducing friction as a key business outcome they hope to achieve.

This has given rise to the pursuit of "seamless security" or "invisible fraud prevention." The goal is to use intelligence and data to make accurate risk decisions in the background, without disrupting the customer's journey. Instead of treating every user as a potential threat, advanced systems use contextual clues—such as device reputation, geographic location, and behavioral biometrics like typing speed or mouse movements—to build a real-time risk profile.

This allows for a more dynamic approach. Low-risk interactions proceed without interruption, while only high-risk activities trigger a step-up authentication challenge. This intelligent, risk-based approach is vital for meeting customer expectations for speed and convenience, particularly during critical moments like account opening or checkout. The data shows that 23 percent of executives already consider reducing friction to be a critical component of their overall fraud strategy, a number that is expected to grow as customer experience becomes a primary competitive differentiator.

The Industry's Answer: AI-Powered Decision Intelligence

In response to these complex challenges, the market for fraud prevention has been reshaped. Technology providers like Provenir, alongside other industry players such as FICO and LexisNexis Risk Solutions, are championing a new category of tools centered on AI-powered decision intelligence. These platforms are designed to unify the three core pillars of modern risk management: data, AI, and decisioning.

By integrating disparate data sources, enabling the deployment of sophisticated AI and machine learning models, and allowing business users to easily create and modify decisioning logic, these platforms provide the agility organizations desperately need. This unified approach directly addresses the executive desire for a comprehensive customer risk review and helps break down the operational silos that have hampered fraud prevention efforts in the past.

"The biggest risk today isn't just fraud itself, rather it's the speed and sophistication at which fraud vectors are evolving, with half of institutions indicating keeping pace with this race remains their greatest challenge," said Carol Hamilton, Chief Commercial Officer at Provenir, in the press release. "AI-driven, real-time, and adaptive fraud prevention is essential to improving model accuracy and protecting customers without adding friction to the experience."

Ultimately, the study confirms that the fight against fraud is no longer a static defense but a continuous, dynamic process of adaptation. For the half of all executives who feel they are falling behind, the path forward involves a deep investment in integrated data, smarter AI, and a relentless focus on balancing security with a seamless customer journey.