Online fraud no longer hides in the shadows. In Q1 2025, new data from Sift showed that more everyday consumers are committing fraud online. In this roundup blog, we recap Sift’s latest research on payment fraud, consumer survey insights, and the newest product updates and innovations helping businesses adapt, respond, and protect trust at scale.
89% Surge in Consumer Exposure to Fraud Schemes
Sift’s Q1 2025 Digital Trust Index revealed the latest payment fraud data from the Sift Global Network along with alarming insights from consumers—in particular, an 89% spike in consumers exposed to online fraud schemes compared to last year. According to Sift’s survey, one in three respondents report seeing offers to participate in fraud—evidence that fraud is no longer an underground activity, but increasingly visible and accessible to everyday consumers.
Would-be fraudsters and curious consumers can easily find fraud tools for sale on apps like Telegram, where more experienced cybercriminals offer Fraud-as-a-Service or sell stolen credit cards. The new report highlights Silver Bullet Configs, a service sold on Telegram that gives buyers detailed device settings to bypass fraud detection systems. These “plug-and-play” kits let nearly anyone test stolen payment information or login credentials, dramatically lowering the barrier to cybercrime.
“The democratization of fraud through the widespread availability of stolen payment information and validation tools—easily found and purchased online—is luring ordinary consumers into cybercrime,” said Kevin Lee, SVP of Customer Experience, Trust & Safety at Sift. “This shift demands a new approach to risk—one centered on identity intelligence and holistic decisioning.”
Read the full Q1 2025 Digital Trust Index here.
Building Trust With Cross-Dimensional Identity Signals
As fraud grows more complex, risk teams that rely on fragmented data signals increasingly struggle to manage fraud with speed and accuracy. To address this challenge, Sift’s newest innovation, Identity Trust XD, offers a transformative approach to fraud prevention that goes beyond surface-level risk indicators. By aggregating user digital details into a single view, businesses can understand the full context behind every digital interaction—making it easier to spot threats and build trust with legitimate users.
In addition to Identity Trust XD, Sift also rolled out several key product enhancements:
- Global Identity Insights: Now available as a new tab in the Sift Console, Global Identity Insights provide a comprehensive, aggregated view of digital user details that are connected across the Sift Global Data Network.
- ATO Activity Analyzer: A new tool built to surface suspicious login patterns and credential stuffing activity before it escalates into full-blown account takeovers.
- Model improvements & Console enhancements: New updates to Sift’s payments model deliver deeper insights and faster decisioning and improvements to Sift’s Console simplify workflows to speed up reporting and enhance overall usability.
Read more about Sift’s latest product updates here.
Bringing Intelligence to In-House Models: The Sift Score API
Businesses that build custom in-house fraud systems may benefit from greater control, but they often operate in isolation—limited to internal data and blind to emerging fraud patterns happening elsewhere. The Sift Score API is a powerful new tool built specifically for companies building in-house fraud models to provide real-time risk scores and intelligence powered by Sift’s Global Data Network, which processes over 1 trillion events annually.
The API delivers a fraud score (0–100), the top 20 contributing risk signals, and seamless integration into existing decision engines—giving risk teams the visibility they need to stay ahead of evolving threats. Whether it’s helping identify card testing, credential stuffing, or industry-specific fraud, the Sift Score API enhances internal detection with global insights, helping businesses benchmark performance and make faster, more accurate decisions.
Built for flexibility, this solution gives fraud and data science teams external intelligence without compromising custom workflows—making it easier to improve detection accuracy, reduce false positives, and protect revenue across every customer touchpoint.
Learn more about the Sift Score API.
