Online fraud costs the global economy between $500bn and $1 trillion a year, IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva said in Bangkok. She said countries must strengthen protection and follow common rules.
Georgieva spoke at a panel during the annual meetings of the IMF and the World Bank. There the two institutions and Thailand's central bank presented a joint framework against fraud in financial services.
The framework is called the "Bangkok Framework for Fraud Resilience in Financial Services". It sets out 12 main guidelines in five areas. They include a legal basis and clearly divided responsibilities. They cover preventing, detecting and limiting fraud. They rely on risk management and law enforcement tools that already exist, call for coordination within and between countries, and aim to protect consumers and make them better able to withstand fraud.
Georgieva said the figures come from different estimates. She also cited an estimate by Thailand's central bank that losses equal 2% of gross domestic product.
Online financial services rest on customers' trust, Georgieva said. People must know their identity and money are safe. Those who pay digitally every day have the most to lose: fraud shakes trust and can make it harder for them to use payments and the financial system. Artificial intelligence gives fraudsters new tools, and if the problem is not brought under control, people may turn away from digital services.
Fraud protection must become part of national strategies and institutions must work together better, she added. The job does not belong to central banks alone. Fraud cannot be stopped completely, so countries need ways to limit the damage and help victims.
Thailand's deputy prime minister and finance minister Ekniti Nitithanprapas also put the losses at around $1 trillion a year. He said the victim may be in one country, the fraudster in another and the money may pass through a third, while the response often stays national. "A problem that crosses every border needs a response from those who are ready to cross them together," Nitithanprapas said. He called on banks, telecom operators and digital platforms to act together to prevent fraud and return money to victims.
Thailand's central bank governor Vitai Ratanakorn cited an estimate that global losses from financial fraud topped $442bn in 2025. Cases have almost tripled over the past decade. In 2024, Asia accounted for 67% of global losses.
In Thailand, losses were more than 43bn baht in 2024, 32bn baht in 2025 and just over 9bn baht in the first half of 2026. Ratanakorn said the fall shows that coordinated action works. He added that the new framework gives a practical basis for sharing information and closer cooperation between countries.
Anshula Kant, managing director and chief financial officer of the World Bank, said about 75% of adults in developing markets now have a transaction account, up from about 40% 15 years ago. For many people these services are their livelihood, for example small traders in India who accept payments by scanning a code. Kant said protection must be built in when services are created. She listed identity checks, payment monitoring, financial education and fast compensation for customers. Rules must fit different groups of customers so they do not limit their access, she said.
The financial system rests on trust in money and in technology, said Andrew Bailey, governor of the Bank of England and chair of the Financial Stability Board. Banks must use technology for protection as well, not only for new services. They cannot cope alone: big technology firms and social networks, through which many scams spread, must take part. "There is no point in building a system that is faster but in fact encourages more fraud," Bailey said of the modernisation of international payments. He said experts on anti-money laundering and financial crime should also take part in the cooperation.
Access to formal financial services in Rwanda has grown from 21% of the population 18 years ago to 92% today. Africa has about 1bn active mobile money accounts for a population of 1.3bn. Soraya Hakuziyaremye, governor of the National Bank of Rwanda, said the country runs a common instant payments platform. It monitors transactions in real time, flags suspicious operations with artificial intelligence and lets financial institutions share data. Rwanda also has prevention forums with banks, telecom operators and law enforcement. Since they were set up, recorded fraud in the first six months of 2026 is down 30%.
Loss of trust may push some customers towards informal services, Hakuziyaremye said. She said technology companies must get involved and countries must work together, because money from fraud quickly moves to another country.
The panel also heard an example from France, where hackers remotely raised the temperature of refrigerators in shops to 50 degrees Celsius. The food spoiled and was thrown away.
The IMF will work with the Financial Stability Board, the World Bank and other international institutions against cyber risks, Georgieva said. The experience of countries that have cut fraud will be used to shape more effective steps. She said progress will be judged by whether fraud is spreading more slowly and whether countries are limiting the damage.