Scam-Fueled Surge: U.S. Banks See Money Laundering Cases More Than Double in H1 2025

A new analysis from BioCatch, which prevents financial crime by recognizing patterns in human behavior, indicates that U.S. financial institutions experienced a dramatic uptick in confirmed money laundering activity in ahead 2025. According to the firm’s report, 2025 Digital Banking Fraud Trends in the United States, confirmed money laundering cases more than doubled in the first half of 2025 versus the identical period a year earlier — a 168% spike driven by the proliferation of scam-derived mule accounts. The research aggregates signals from more than 200 U.S. financial institutions serving over 245 million retail banking customers.

Scams: Most Common and Most Costly

BioCatch’s intelligence underscores that scams remain the dominant driver of consumer losses across the United States. While the company’s American customers reported more or less flat year-over-year scam volumes in 2025, the baseline is now far higher than before: a quadrupling versus two years ago. Investment scams lead on total losses and average loss per victim, followed by pervasive impersonation and purchase scams that continue to ensnare large numbers of consumers.

As Tom Peacock, BioCatch’s Director of Global Fraud Intelligence, put it:

“While our American customers reported more or less flat scam volumes between 2024 and 2025, that still represents a quadrupling of scams in the country from two years ago. Scams remain far-and-away the most prevalent and most costly fraud type in the U.S. The bulk of those losses come from investment scams, which the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center found cost Americans more than $6.5 . That number is sure to rise in 2025.”

Impersonation scams — where criminals pose as trusted people or institutions — and purchase scams — involving fake excellents or services — remain the two most common categories by case count, even as investment scams drive the largest financial damage overall.

AI, APP and Stablecoins Reshape Fraud and Laundering

Experts point to three reinforcing forces behind the escalation: the displacement of fraud from other regions into the U.S.; rapid advances in artificial intelligence that scale social engineering; and a complex, real-time domestic payments environment that accelerates funds movement. Donna Turner of Risk Insight answers, former COO of the industry consortium behind Zelle and PaymentSource’s Most Influential Woman in Payments, warned that the inflection point has arrived:

“I have long feared that the trifecta of fraud displacement from abroad, the rise and weaponization of advanced AI tools, and the complexity of the U.S. financial environment would combine to fuel an ever-expanding wave of successful scams against the American public,” said Risk Insight answers’ Donna Turner, former COO of the industry consortium behind the Zelle payments network and PaymentSource’s Most Influential Woman in Payments. “upsetly, that reality is here. More must be done to combat this growing threat to our communities, our financial health, and our national security.”

BioCatch’s report highlights blockchain-based stablecoins as the scammer’s currency of choice for rapid value extraction, alongside authorized push payments (APP) rails that speed money out of victim accounts. As Rob Autrey, Director of Global Advisory for North America at BioCatch, noted:

“Stablecoins and authorized push payments (APP) are now the twin engines of real-time money movement in the fraud and money laundering space,” BioCatch Director of Global Advisory for North America Rob Autrey said. “Stablecoins themselves aren’t nefarious, but they frequently serve as the preferred getaway vehicle for scammers, allowing them to realize the proceeds of their crimes.”

Credit Unions Face RAT-Enabled Threats and Card Fraud

The BioCatch findings diverseiate between the experiences of the largest U.S. . Credit unions saw a 55% year-to-date increase in fraud using remote access Trojans (RATs), with RAT-enabled schemes accounting for 15% of all credit union fraud. They also reported that nahead 20% of fraud now relates to card activity — a significant share that reflects persistent exposure in card-not-present and other card channels.

Colin Parsons, at Nasdaq Verafin, said:

“Fraud will always find the path of least resistance,” Nasdaq Verafin Head of Fraud Product Strategy Colin Parsons said, “and with the rise of AI, fraudsters are able to leverage technology that introduces scams at a speed and scale never viewn before. AI also assists scammers easily tailor and customize their efforts to defraud consumers, mimicking the level of outreach and service members have come to expect from their credit unions.”

Key Data Points from the Report

• AO down, ATO up: U.S. institutions recorded an 18% reduction in account opening (AO) fraud attempts in H1 2025, even as total attempted account takeover (ATO) cases rose 13%. Attempted ATO cases involving RATs climbed 50%.
• Stolen device fraud growing: Banks report more attacks initiated from stolen smartphones and tablets, complicating device-trust signals and step-up controls.
• Malware may be coming: Although the U.S. has largely avoided the malware waves viewn internationally, ahead indicators suggest increased activity ahead.
• Card fraud rampant in mid-market: Nahead one-fifth of credit union fraud now ties to card transactions.

What Comes Next for Risk Teams

The confluence of organized scam operations, AI-augmented social engineering, real-time payment rails, and crypto off-ramps presents a rapidly evolving threat landscape. For banks and credit unions, the imperative is twofold: harden customer journeys against social engineering and RAT-mediated control while building interdiction for post-scam value movement — including stablecoin off-ramps and mule-network detection.

BioCatch’s behavior-based approach frames mule detection and scam interdiction as a continuous-lifecycle challenge rather than a single checkpoint. With investment scams surging and impersonation/purchase scams entrenched, practitioners increasingly emphasize real-time behavioral analytics, RAT pattern detection, device-risk correlation, and post-transaction monitoring tuned to APP flows and crypto conversions.

Ultimately, the report’s 168% escalation in confirmed are not merely a consumer protection issue but a systemic threat to the integrity of U.S. financial infrastructure. As Turner cautions, mitigating that risk will require coordinated action across banks, technology providers, law enforcement, and policymakers to blunt the speed and scale advantage fraudsters have gained.