• 40% of Dominicans who reported losing money last year due to these frauds pointed to ‘vishing’ (fraudulent phone calls or messages) as the method used.
• Among the sectors analyzed, transactions directed at government entities were the most exposed to digital fraud risks in the country during the same period.
Santo Domingo – The most recent TransUnion fraud study revealed that 6.5% of transaction attempts made by consumers in the Dominican Republic in 2025 were suspected of digital fraud, above the global average of 3.8% and becoming the second-highest level in Latin America among the countries analyzed, after Nicaragua.
Similarly, among the consumers surveyed by TransUnion2 who said they had lost money to digital fraud during the same period (including scams via email, internet, calls, and text messages), the median loss reported was RD$125,784, the second highest among the countries in the region analyzed.
Although there is a global decrease in the rate of suspected digital fraud, scammers continue to adapt and resort to high-trust tactics based on deception that can bypass traditional security measures, while the impact on consumers remains significant.
More Read
These are some of the results from the most recent TransUnion H1 2026 Update Report: Top Fraud Trends, which combine consumer survey results with insights from TransUnion’s global fraud prevention network to analyze how fraud patterns are changing across different markets and digital channels.
We recommend reading:Indotel makes the Dominican Republic the regional hub for the debate on cybersecurity and digital governance
“The results indicate a scenario in which criminals are taking advantage of existing trust, active accounts, and already verified digital relationships,” noted Danilda Almánzar, manager of TransUnion in the Dominican Republic. “In the Dominican Republic, scammers succeed where trust already exists, especially on major digital platforms, where consumers expect security and legitimacy. Although overall digital fraud rates tend to decrease, fraud can remain very harmful and costly for individuals — especially when scammers manage to make their fraudulent messages appear credible and familiar.”
More Read
‘Vishing’ is emerging as the leading cause of fraud losses reported by consumers in the country
Dominican consumers are increasingly facing coordinated fraud attempts, based on identity theft and operating through multiple channels, patterns similar to those observed in mature digital economies. Furthermore, fraud is increasingly infiltrating everyday digital interactions.
Among the people who reported losing money to digital fraud in the last year, 40% pointed to ‘vishing’ – fraudulent phone calls or voice messages that seek to obtain personal information – as the cause of their losses. This indicates that the losses do not occur because consumers have made transactions in high-risk environments, but because scammers managed to successfully infiltrate environments that seemed credible, familiar, and trustworthy.
As noted above, local consumers recorded the second-highest median loss from digital fraud among the countries in the region analyzed, confirming that this phenomenon is no longer marginal. On the contrary, it has a real and increasingly widespread impact: 32% of Dominicans stated that they had lost money due to digital fraud in the last year. Far from being isolated scams, the losses are increasingly linked to everyday digital interactions, in which speed, familiarity, and routine reduce the opportunities to stop and verify.
The risk of digital fraud is higher at the time of account creation
Although overall suspected fraud rates may seem lower than in 2024, the risk may remain high at specific moments in the digital consumer lifecycle, particularly when criminals attempt to create or manipulate identities. In 2025, the highest rate of suspected digital fraud in the consumer lifecycle in the Dominican Republic was recorded during the account creation process (15.8%), during digital transactions (7.7%), and after account login (3.5%).
“Fraudsters are moving to earlier stages of the process,” added Almánzar. “Instead of evading controls during account usage, they are increasingly exploiting vulnerabilities at the time of account creation, hiding identity manipulation until losses accumulate. These methods allow criminals to bypass rule-based systems designed for a different threat environment. To keep up, companies need proactive, intelligence-based solutions, such as TransUnion’s fraud solutions, to detect sophisticated identity-related risks at the onboarding stage.”
The results of the TransUnion survey also show that the most important feature for consumers when choosing who to transact with online is the confidence that their personal data will not be compromised (86% indicated that this factor is very important), followed by a simple payment process (79%) and ease of logging in or authenticating (74%).
“It is a fact that security is the most mentioned and valued feature by consumers, who are willing to accept certain inconveniences when carrying out digital transactions, as long as they are directly linked to protection,” continued Almánzar. “As a result, security in the Dominican Republic is evolving beyond compliance and is becoming a key factor for brand trust and market differentiation.”
Government transactions present the highest risk of digital fraud among the sectors analyzed
Throughout Latin America, the risk of digital fraud varies by sector, reflecting user habits and the points where criminals identify opportunities. In the case of attempted transactions, those toward government entities represented the highest rate of suspected digital fraud at 15.9%. As more services converge around mobile identity, real-time connectivity, and interactions on digital platforms, fraud appears when users are most active, not just when it comes to monetary transactions.
What can consumers and businesses do?
As fraud tactics evolve, consumers can help reduce risk by protecting their personal information, acting with caution regarding unsolicited calls and messages, and periodically reviewing their credit information to detect suspicious activity.
For organizations, the data confirms that anti-fraud strategies must go beyond regulatory compliance to actively protect trust throughout the entire consumer lifecycle. This is especially important at the time of account creation and at those moments when criminals attempt to take advantage of already established relationships through scams and identity theft.
You can also read: Indotel launches campaign against extortion and digital fraud to strengthen online security in the country
TransUnion reached its conclusions on digital fraud based on a global survey of 12,730 consumers across 18 countries and regions between November 20 and December 9, 2025, as well as information collected through its TransUnion fraud prevention solutions network.
The specific data by country and region included in the report covers Colombia, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, and the United States. Download the full H1 2026 Update: Top Fraud Trends report for more information and data on global fraud trends.
1 Suspected digital fraud attempts are those that TransUnion customers determined met one of the following conditions: 1) real-time denial due to fraud indicators, 2) real-time denial due to non-compliance with corporate policies, 3) fraud detected after customer investigation, or 4) non-compliance with corporate policies detected after customer investigation. Country and regional analyses examined transactions where the consumer or the suspected fraudster was located in a specific country or region when the transaction was made. Global statistics represent all countries in the world and not just the selected countries and regions.
2 TransUnion surveyed 415 consumers in the Dominican Republic between November 20 and December 8, 2025.
