Nearly nine in 10 merchants face payment fraud attacks

Average losses reached $1m, with refund fraud affecting half of retailers.

Nearly nine in 10 (88%) Hong Kong merchants were targeted by or fell victim to payment fraud in the past 12 months, according to the 2026 Adyen Index.

The report found average losses reached $1m, with refund fraud affecting half of retailers.

Meanwhile, phishing scams, identity fraud, and chargeback abuse each affected around two in five merchants.

Corporate and service data breaches are seen as the primary route through which scammers access personal information, according to an LSEG report.

LSEG said 59% identify interaction with suspicious links or attachments as a major data compromise pathway, followed by phishing and social media account vulnerabilities.

Adyen said about 40% of enterprise merchants plan to enter new markets in 2026, with an average budget of $1.65m. ‘Europe, the Middle East, and Africa’ and Asia-Pacific were the main target regions.

However, system integration, fraud risks, and licensing hurdles were cited as key challenges in expanding overseas.

Separately, 35% cited difficulty integrating artificial intelligence into existing systems as a barrier to wider adoption, whilst 38% pointed to data privacy and security concerns.

The study was conducted from 20 to 28 March and covered 324 Hong Kong retail merchants at senior manager level or above with annual turnover of at least $150m.

Similarly, consumers in Hong Kong continue to suffer some of the highest financial losses globally despite experiencing fewer suspected digital fraud attempts.

A separate TransUnion report in May showed attempted online transactions suspected of fraud declined to 2.8% from 5% a year earlier, below the global average of 3.8%

However, 17% of consumers reported fraud-related losses in the past year, with a median loss of approximately $48,000—more than 3.5 times the global median and the highest among surveyed markets.