Immediate payments settle instantly and offer credit unions new opportunities to reimagine their business and serve members in enhanced and different ways. However, these speedy new opportunities raise questions about the potential risk and fraud involved with immediate payments.  

Questions on fraud are some of the most frequently asked questions from credit unions. And understandably, the immediate payment rails are new, and fraudsters quickly adapt to fledgling systems. So, today's article will tackle the following questions: What levels of fraud are we seeing in immediate payments? What tools do the new immediate payment rails offer to help mitigate fraud? 

Note: Part Two of this article goes into further detail about managing fraud for both types of participant profiles: Receive only and Send/Receive.

Classifying the types of fraud

First, it’s important to remember there are many different types of schemes, and fraudsters regularly invent new ways to trick us. However, there are just two primary ways to classify fraud: unauthorized and authorized. And your members and your staff need to understand these classifications because Reg E. lays out differences in the protections offered, depending on if the fraud is authorized or unauthorized. So, let’s look at what sets these two types of fraud apart. 

• Unauthorized fraud example: Someone gains access to your member’s checking account and makes a payment using your immediate payment solution without your member’s permission or involvement. Because your member did not authorize the payment, Reg E. has a provision that allows the member to typically get their money back after reporting the incident.   
• Authorized fraud example: Your member was knowingly involved in the transaction and gave authorization to send the payment. These are your “garden variety” scams. Your member is tricked or persuaded into authorizing a payment for a good or service that ultimately ends up not being provided. Because your member authorized this payment, there is a chance they may not be able to get their money back.

Reviewing the data 

There is no doubt that we are asked the fraud question so frequently because there is some concern with the immediacy and irrevocability of immediate payments. However, a 2025 PYMNTS Intelligence report, “Reality Check: Fact vs. Fiction in Real-Time Payments Fraud,” revealed that only "two percent of firms reported fraud on the RTP^®  network or FedNow^® Service, compared with 63% reporting check fraud, the Association for Financial Professionals found. In April 2025, out of 35 million RTP transactions, only 123 fraud cases were reported, a rate far below ACH or wire transfers."

And when we look at global data, which is important because immediate payments have been in use much longer in countries overseas, we see a similar story. For example, according to PSR's July 2024 "Authorised push payment (APP) scams performance report," in the U.K., where the Faster Payments Service has operated since 2008, authorized push payment scam losses totaled £341 million in 2023, a 12% decrease from 2022, underscoring ongoing industry efforts to combat fraud. 

What's important to keep in mind here is that overall immediate payments fraud is infrequent. Immediate payments face the same fraud scenarios – no more and no less – that are relevant in existing payment channels. Fraud is a dynamic and always-evolving threat that is not new or specific to immediate payments and many of the same mitigation efforts you use today at your credit union can be extended to the RTP network and the FedNow Service. Now, let’s look at what each of these new rails specifically offers to help mitigate fraud.  

Understanding the fraud controls for both payment rails

The RTP network and the FedNow Service have system fraud controls to aid your financial institution’s fraud management. The FedNow Service has the following requirements:

• A maximum credit transfer of $1 million per transaction. Participants have a default transaction limit of $100,000, and financial institutions can increase or decrease that amount within the network maximum to align with their business needs and risk appetite.
• Participant-specific negative lists, which provide additional validation during the processing of consumer credit transfers. 
• A requirement that participants report transactions processed through the FedNow Service that they have investigated and confirmed to be fraudulent. 

The RTP network, managed by The Clearing House (TCH), has the following controls in place: 

• A maximum transaction limit of $10 million. Participating financial institutions may establish lower transaction and exposure limits based on their business needs and risk appetite. 
• Participants with sending capabilities must implement strong security controls, including multi-factor authentication and risk-management processes designed to authenticate users, validate payment information, and identify suspicious activity before transactions are submitted to the network. Any incoming payments, data at rest, and outgoing payments should be validated.
• Sending participants must also perform appropriate fraud monitoring prior to submitting a payment on the network and must report any instance of fraudulent activity or suspected fraudulent activity to TCH.  

Overall, both payment rails allow your credit union to structure your financial institution’s immediate payment program to meet your risk appetite, just as you do today with wires and ACH. This is where knowing your member becomes very important. And, of course, you can further help protect your institution and members by staying informed of developments in the fraud landscape, so that you know what to look for and how best to respond. Understanding fraud trends isn’t just something that your BSA Officer should be aware of. One of the most helpful tools available is the Fraud Classifier Model , which helps you classify fraud independently of payment type, payment channel or other payment characteristics. 

For more information on this topic, I encourage you to visit our Real-Time Payments Info Center and/or reach out to me at 866/MyCorp1 or via  [email protected] to have a conversation about the next steps in your immediate payments journey.

Updated August 2026