Online fraud - people's experiences across the EU
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Victims of online fraud were asked whether they had reported it to the police or any other service or organisation. The question asked in the survey was as follows: ‘Did you report this [having been tricked via instant message or email into transferring money, paying for something or giving your personal data] to any of the following organisations or services?’.
The respondents could choose one or more of the following: police; bank or financial institution; the online platform; a consumer protection organisation; employer; or other.
Please note that in this survey, the term ‘reporting’ is used to capture actual reporting of crime to the police and contacting other bodies not involved in the administration of justice or law enforcement services, such as banks or telecommunications operators. However, under the Victims’ Rights Directive, the terms ‘reporting’ and ‘making a complaint’ refer only to reporting a crime within a criminal justice system (Recitals. 24, 25 and 63; Article 5).
Overall, 56 % of victims of online fraud in the EU did not report it to the police or any other service or organisation, while 44 % reported it to the police or another service or organisation. The survey listed a range of services and organisations that victims of online fraud may have reported the incident to. Among these, reporting to the police was mentioned most often, by 15 % of victims, followed by victims reporting to a bank or financial institution (14 %), or the platform where the fraud took place (13 %) (Figure 4).
Figure 4 – Organisations and services that victims of online fraud reported to (EU-27, %)
Alternative text: This bar chart shows the actions taken by the victims to report online fraud to the police and/or other services or organisations. 15 % of victims reported the incident to the police. Other organisations and services that victims of online fraud were most likely to report included their bank or other financial institution (14 %) or the online platform where the request for money or personal data was made (13 %), followed by a consumer protection organisation or authority (6 %) or a victim’s employer (5 %). 5 % of victims contacted organisations or services other than those listed in the survey.
NB: n = 5,887 (respondents who were victims of online fraud).
Question: “Did you report this to any of the following organisations or services?” Respondents could select one or more answer categories, out of those shown in the bar chart above (in addition, they could select the answer “Don’t know”).
Source: FRA, 2026
The rate of reporting online fraud to the police increases with victims’ age. That is, the older the victims are the higher their reporting rate to the police. The rate of reporting online fraud to the police ranges from 11 % in age group 15–24 years, to 18 % among the group 55 years and older.
Reporting online fraud to the police and other organisations and services varies across the EU Member States. For example, in Hungary, 65 % of victims contacted an organisation or service after experiencing online fraud – the highest rate across EU-27, which includes 20 % of victims who reported online fraud to the police (Figure 5). The highest rate of reporting incidents of online fraud to the police is in Sweden (28 %) where, notably, reporting to the police makes up more than half of all organisations and services that victims have contacted. Overall, the results for contacting any service or organisation range from Hungary’s 65 %, and 56 % in both Denmark and Poland, to 26 % in Lithuania, 24 % in Greece and 22 % in Romania.
Reporting to the police ranges from 28 % in Sweden, 24 % in Denmark, and 21 % in both Finland and Luxembourg, to 6 % in Romania and 5 % in Slovenia.
Figure 5 – Victims who reported online fraud to the police or any service or organisation (including police), by EU Member State (%)
Alternative text: The bar chart shows the percentage of victims of online fraud who reported the incident to the police, as well as any service or organisation (including the police) due to online fraud. The results are shown for each EU Member State and the EU-27 average. Reporting to the police ranges from 28 % in Sweden, 24 % in Denmark and 21 % in Finland and Luxembourg, to 6 % in Romania and 5 % in Slovenia at the lower end of the reporting scale (EU-27 average is 15 %). In terms of contacting any service or organisation, the results range from 65 % in Hungary and 56 % in Denmark and Poland, to 24 % in Greece and 22 % in Romania.
NB: n = 5,887
Question: Victims of online fraud were asked “Did you report this to any of the following organisations or services?” Respondents could select one or more organisations or services that they contacted or reported the incident to, using the list of categories shown in Figure 4.
Source: FRA, 2026
Among the 44 % of victims who reported online fraud to the police or contacted any organisation or service – 6 % indicated that they have reported to the police and also contacted another organisation or service, while 10 % reported to police without contacting any other organisation or service, and 29 % contacted such an organisation or service but did not contact the police. Please note that the three categories listed here do not sum up to exactly 44 % due to rounding. It should also be noted that these results refer to all experiences of online fraud that respondents to the survey have experienced. Therefore, reporting to the police and contact with other organisations and services may refer to different incidents in the case of respondents who have experienced two or more incidents of online fraud. Another point to note is that the results do not indicate the order in which victims reported to the police and contacted other organisations and services. Therefore, the category of victims who have reported to the police and contacted another organisation or service includes those who decided to report to the police after they were encouraged to do so following having first contacted another organisation or service.
