More Fraudsters Exploit Trust and Manipulate Credit Reports, TransUnion Says

A new global fraud study from a leading credit-reporting agency ties a growing amount of fraud to compromises of trusted identity-verification systems, rather than from false identities used to open credit card accounts, bank accounts, and other starting points of fraud. The study also reveals a boom in fraudulent manipulation of credit reports.

“Fraudsters are increasingly exploiting the trust associated with legitimate identities and brands rather than creating fake ones,” a statement from TransUnion says. “As the threat evolves, organizations face growing financial consequences, with business leaders estimating fraud losses equivalent to nearly 7% of annual revenue in the past year. Meanwhile, advances in AI and automation are helping criminals open fraudulent accounts, infiltrate existing ones and undermine customer relationships at greater scale.”

Chicago-based TransUnion based its study of first-half 2026 fraud on input from 1,600 fraud and risk-control decision makers at medium and large-sized “consumer-facing organizations” in eight countries, including the U.S., a consumer study with a third-party research firm of 13,500 adults in 19 countries, its own data, and other sources.

The study, titled “Fraud in the Age of Continuous Trust,” found that 81% of suspected digital fraud globally in the first half “occurred during interactions with existing customers, as fraudsters exploit trusted relationships and established accounts,” according to a TransUnion news release.

For example, account logins comprised 53% of all suspected digital fraud while financial transactions accounted for 27.9% of fraudulent activity and account creations 13.1%. Yet logins presented the lowest suspected risk ahead of time, according to the findings.

In the U.S., fraud-control managers are confronting a booming risk problem—manipulation of trusted systems. Scam and authorized fraudulent transactions accounted for 35% of business fraud losses, according to the study, nearly double the 18% each for first-party fraud and synthetic-identity fraud. Artificial intelligence is giving fraudsters a big hand in compromising trust-based fraud controls, TransUnion says.

One of the fastest-growing types of fraud facing banks and other lenders is so-called credit washing and its close cousin, chargeoff suppression, which if successful gives a fraudster access to loans or higher credit limits. In credit washing, bad actors use legitimate dispute and consumer-protection processes to improve their credit scores. Chargeoff suppression is “a term to represent that a consumer has had a chargeoff they want removed from their credit report to get a better credit score,” a TransUnion spokesperson tells Digital Transactions News by email. “For instance, they may claim they were human trafficked or they never opened the account, someone else did.”

The study found a 595% increase in consumer-initiated chargeoff suppressions over a recent 18-month period. TransUnion estimates $3.7 billion in U.S. chargeoff losses will be erased from credit reports this year to due to such suppressions, up from $2.7 billion last year and $1.2 billion in 2024.