Digital fraud attempts in the Dominican Republic reach the second-highest level in Latin America (6.5%) in 2025, with ‘vishing’ the main cause of losses
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- 40% of Dominicans who reported losing money to these frauds last year named ‘vishing’ (fraudulent phone calls or voice messages) as the method used.
- Among the sectors analysed, transactions directed at government entities were the most exposed to digital fraud risk in the country during the same period.
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, June 2026 – TransUnion’s latest fraud study revealed that 6.5% of the transaction attempts made by consumers in the Dominican Republic in 2025 were suspected of digital fraud[1], above the global average of 3.8%, making it the second-highest level in Latin America among the countries analysed, after Nicaragua.
Likewise, among the consumers surveyed by TransUnion2 who said they had lost money to digital fraud during the same period (including email, internet, phone call and text message scams), the median reported loss was RD$125,784, the second-highest among the countries in the region analysed.
Although a decline in the rate of suspected digital fraud is being seen worldwide, fraudsters continue to adapt and turn to high-trust tactics based on deception that can bypass traditional security measures, while the impact on consumers remains significant.
These are some of the findings of the latest TransUnion H1 2026 Update: Top Fraud Trends report, which combines consumer survey results with insights from TransUnion’s global anti-fraud network to analyse how fraud patterns are changing across markets and digital channels.
“The results point to a scenario in which criminals are exploiting existing trust, active accounts and digital relationships that have already been verified,” said Danilda Almánzar, TransUnion manager in the Dominican Republic. “In the Dominican Republic, fraudsters succeed where trust already exists, above all on the main digital platforms, where consumers expect security and legitimacy. Even as overall digital fraud rates tend to fall, fraud can still be very harmful and costly for individuals — especially when fraudsters manage to make their fraudulent messages seem credible and familiar.”
‘Vishing’ emerges as the main cause of fraud losses reported by consumers in the country
Dominican consumers increasingly face coordinated fraud attempts, based on identity theft and operating across multiple channels, patterns similar to those seen in mature digital economies. In addition, fraud is increasingly infiltrating everyday digital interactions.
Among people who reported losing money to digital fraud in the last year, 40% named ‘vishing’ – fraudulent phone calls or voice messages that seek to obtain personal information – as the cause of their losses. This indicates that losses are not occurring because consumers transacted in high-risk environments, but because fraudsters successfully infiltrated environments that seemed credible, familiar and trustworthy.
As noted above, local consumers recorded the second-highest median digital fraud loss among the countries in the region analysed, confirming that this phenomenon is no longer marginal. On the contrary, it has a real and increasingly widespread impact: 32% of Dominicans said they had lost money to digital fraud in the last year. Far from being isolated scams, losses are increasingly linked to everyday digital interactions, in which speed, familiarity and routine reduce the chances to stop and verify.
Table 1: Main causes of digital fraud losses reported by consumers in the Dominican Republic – 2025
Type of fraud | Percentage of consumers who reported losing money to fraud, by type of fraud |
| Vishing (fraudulent phone calls or voice messages intended to steal personal information) | 40% |
| Money mule | 19% |
| Credit card theft or fraudulent charges | 19% |
| Smishing (fraudulent text messages intended to steal personal information) | 17% |
| Phishing (emails, websites, social media posts, QR codes, intended to steal personal information) | 16% |
| Unemployment benefits fraud | 16% |
| Social engineering | 13% |
| Account takeover | 12% |
| Identity theft | 11% |
| Third-party seller scams on legitimate e-commerce websites. | 10% |
Source: TransUnion consumer survey
Digital fraud risk is highest at account creation
Although overall suspected fraud rates appear lower than in 2024, risk can remain high at specific points in the digital consumer lifecycle, particularly when criminals try 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 account creation (15.8%), during digital transactions (7.7%) and after account login (3.5%).
“Fraudsters are moving to earlier stages of the process,” Almánzar added. “Instead of evading controls while accounts are in use, they increasingly exploit vulnerabilities at the moment of account creation, concealing identity manipulation until losses build up. These methods allow criminals to get around rules-based systems designed for a different threat environment. To keep up, businesses need proactive, intelligence-based solutions, such as TransUnion’s fraud solutions, to detect sophisticated identity-related risks at onboarding.”
TransUnion’s survey results also show that the most important factor for consumers when choosing who to transact with online is confidence that their personal data will not be compromised (86% said this factor is very important), followed by a simple payment process (79%) and ease of logging in or authenticating (74%).
“Security is clearly the feature consumers mention and value most, and they are willing to accept some friction when transacting digitally, as long as it is directly linked to protection,” Almánzar continued. “As a result, security in the Dominican Republic is evolving beyond compliance and becoming a key driver of brand trust and market differentiation.”
Government transactions carry the highest digital fraud risk among the sectors analysed
Across Latin America, digital fraud risk varies by sector, reflecting user habits and the points where criminals identify opportunities. For attempted transactions, those directed at government entities showed the highest suspected digital fraud rate, 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 only when monetary transactions are involved.
Table 2: Digital fraud attempts detected in the Dominican Republic by sector
Industry | Estimated rate of digital fraud attempts in 2025 | Change in volume of suspected digital fraud attempts between 2024 and 2025 |
| Government | 15.9% | +32% |
| Gambling (online sports betting, poker, etc.) | 12.6% | -12% |
| Financial services | 12.3% | +170% |
| Logistics | 10.1% | -81% |
| Video games | 7.6% | -49% |
| Communities (online dating, forums) | 4.5% | -85% |
| Retail | 4.5% | -66% |
| Insurance | 3.6% | +34% |
| Telecommunications | 3.0% | +380% |
| Travel and leisure | 0.1% | -74% |
Source: TransUnion global intelligence network
What can consumers and businesses do?
As fraud tactics evolve, consumers can help reduce risk by protecting their personal information, being cautious with unsolicited calls and messages, and regularly reviewing their credit information to detect suspicious activity.
For organisations, 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 account creation and at those moments when criminals try to exploit established relationships through scams and impersonation.
TransUnion reached its conclusions on digital fraud based on a global survey of 12,730 consumers in 18 countries and regions conducted between 20 November and 9 December 2025, as well as on information gathered through its network of TransUnion fraud prevention solutions.
The country- and region-specific data in the report includes 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 for breaching corporate policies, 3) fraud detected after customer investigation, or 4) corporate policy breach detected after customer investigation. Country and regional analyses examined transactions in which the consumer or 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 only the selected countries and regions.
2 TransUnion surveyed 415 consumers in the Dominican Republic between 20 November and 8 December 2025.
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