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Real-time payments have long been heralded as the future of money movement in the US and many other global markets.
Real-time payments fraud myths
With the RTP network from The Clearing House and the Federal Reserve’s FedNow Service both live, real-time payments promise efficiency, immediacy and customer convenience.
Yet lingering fears about fraud continue to slow uptake, particularly among banks that restrict themselves to “receive-only” functionality.
Real-Time Payments Fraud
The concern is not unfounded. A 2025 survey by RedCompass Labs found that 85% of US payment professionals expect fraud to increase as instant payments scale, with the largest banks most fearful of becoming prime targets.
Account takeover and authorised push payment (APP) fraud top the list of risks, while synthetic identity and invoice fraud also attract attention.
These anxieties have elevated fraud from a peripheral concern to one of the top four perceived barriers to adoption.
However, perception is diverging sharply from reality.
Fraud rates on the major US real-time rails remain markedly lower than on legacy systems.
According to the Association for Financial Professionals, 63% of firms experienced cheque fraud in 2024, compared with just 2% reporting incidents on RTP or FedNow.
The Clearing House disclosed that of 35 million RTP transactions in April 2025, only 123 were fraudulent—a fraction of a percentage point.
Wire transfers and ACH debits, meanwhile, remain significantly more vulnerable.
Why Does the Narrative Persist?
Why, then, does the “faster payments equal faster fraud” narrative persist?
One factor is the high visibility of authorised fraud cases, such as scams involving Zelle, which have drawn regulatory scrutiny.
Another is the structural conservatism of many financial institutions, which view caution as preferable to risk—even when evidence suggests the risk is exaggerated.
By holding back on full participation, banks inadvertently create a bottleneck that constrains the wider ecosystem’s ability to reap the benefits of instant settlement.
The tools to manage risk already exist and enjoy broad support.
Nearly all banks, 96%, back the introduction of Confirmation of Payee-style identity verification checks, which have cut APP fraud in the United Kingdom by more than half.
Artificial intelligence and machine learning for anomaly detection, multifactor authentication, and real-time monitoring are also regarded as top priorities.
Banks are additionally calling for stronger data sharing, both among themselves and with telecom and technology partners, to combat scams more effectively.
Operators Stepping Up
Both network operators are stepping up.
The Clearing House and the Federal Reserve have rolled out fraud-mitigation measures including real-time transaction monitoring and frameworks such as the Fed’s ScamClassifier model.
These initiatives aim to help banks track, categorise and respond to new patterns of fraud without slowing down the instant payments experience.
The paradox is clear: the payment rails designed for immediacy are proving less susceptible to fraud than their slower, legacy counterparts.
Yet until the perception gap is closed, adoption will remain cautious. Education, transparency and collaboration across the industry are now essential to build trust.
The future of faster payments will not be determined by technology alone but by confidence—among banks, regulators and end users—that the rails are secure.
With fraud rates demonstrably low and prevention tools increasingly sophisticated, the facts are firmly on the side of real-time payments. It is myths, not fraud itself, that stand in the way of progress.
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