Future of Payments
May 8, 2025
As we navigate through 2025, high-risk merchants face a rapidly evolving fraud landscape. From AI-driven scams to rising chargeback rates, the challenges are growing more complex and costly. In 2024 alone, businesses lost $8.9 billion to chargebacks, a figure projected to rise as fraud tactics become more sophisticated.
For e-commerce merchants, SaaS companies, crypto exchanges, and other high-risk industries, staying ahead of these fraud trends is crucial to protect revenue and maintain customer trust. This article explores the top 5 fraud trends impacting high-risk merchants in 2025 and how innovative solutions like avoided.io can safeguard your business with real-time chargeback prevention and fraud management.
Fraudsters are increasingly leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) to conduct highly convincing scams. These sophisticated attacks are designed to deceive even the most cautious businesses and consumers, from AI-generated phishing emails to deepfake videos and voice impersonations. AI also creates synthetic identities that combine real and fake information, enabling fraudsters to bypass traditional identity verification systems.
Friendly fraud occurs when customers dispute legitimate transactions, often claiming they did not receive a product or did not authorise the purchase. This type of fraud is particularly challenging for high-risk merchants, as it’s difficult to prove intent. In 2025, friendly fraud is expected to increase as consumers become more familiar with chargeback processes and as subscription-based models gain popularity.
Subscription renewal scams are on the rise, particularly affecting SaaS companies and digital content providers. Fraudsters manipulate recurring payments and initiate chargebacks by falsely claiming unauthorised renewals or by exploiting trial periods. This trend is fueled by the growing popularity of subscription services, making it easier for scammers to dispute recurring charges.
With the continued growth of global e-commerce, cross-border fraud is becoming more prevalent. Fraudsters exploit differences in regulations, currency conversions, and security standards between countries to perpetrate scams. This is particularly challenging for high-risk merchants dealing with international transactions, as they face increased risks of unauthorised chargebacks and currency-related disputes.
The rapid growth of cryptocurrency adoption and blockchain technology has led to new fraud schemes, including crypto wallet hacks and NFT scams.
avoided.io’s chargeback prevention solutions are specifically designed for transactions made via credit or debit cards. It does not support chargeback prevention for crypto-to-crypto transactions.
To safeguard revenue, high-risk merchants must proactively address fraud trends. Request a Demo to discover how avoided.io can protect your business.
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