According to data from the European Banking Authority’s (EBA) Payment Fraud Report, nearly 2.8 million fraudulent transactions were recorded in Spain in 2024, representing approximately 0.017% of all transactions that took place in the country. Although this percentage might seem insignificant, the financial impact was enormous: the total value of these fraudulent transactions exceeded €318 million.

Companies affected by fraudulent transactions suffered both direct financial losses and administrative difficulties that can be hard to manage. To avoid these types of risks, it’s important to choose secure payment methods in Spain. In this guide, we analyze which instruments have the lowest incidence of fraud, what the most common types of fraud are in Spain, and how to improve payment security in your business.

What’s in this article?

• Which payment methods in Spain are the most secure
  
• Common types of payment fraud in Spain
  
• How Stripe can help improve payment security in your business
  
• FAQs about secure payment methods in Spain
  

Which payment methods in Spain are the most secure

According to the Bank of Spain’s Economic Bulletin 2025/Q2, security is one of the main reasons why customers pay by card and one of the determining factors when trying new payment methods. For your business, this means prioritizing security when considering which payment methods to offer your customers.

To help you choose the most secure payment methods for your business, we’ve prepared a comparison table:

Cards

Cards use varying security measures depending on the environment in which the purchase is made: for online transactions, the 3D Secure authentication protocol is used, while in-person purchases use other systems, such as the Europay, Visa, and Mastercard (EMV) chip.

The level of security also varies depending on the characteristics or additional protection measures of the different types of cards. For example, virtual cards and prepaid cards are among the most secure because they limit financial losses in the event of fraud and avoid exposing the data of the main card associated with the bank account.

Corporate expense cards also offer an additional layer of security, as companies can set their own very specific use cases and spending limits. Furthermore, they help avoid human error thanks to the automatic recording of transactions through an expense management program.

According to the EBA, 2024 card payment fraud in Spain exceeded €140 million (0.038% of total payments). This figure positions cards as the payment method with the highest percentage of fraud. To reduce the incidence of fraud, measures are being taken—such as data encryption or tokenization and the use of secure payment terminals; these measures are necessary to comply with security protocols such as the Payment Card Industry (PCI) standards.

Bizum

Bizum is one of the most secure online payment methods in Spain because it uses the security measures of banking applications and complies with European Directive 2015/2366. This mobile payment technology typically generates a unique security code for each transaction or uses the user’s biometric credentials, which reduces the risk of fraud and strengthens consumer trust.

In addition, to reinforce security, banks often apply their own additional restrictions, such as establishing a maximum transfer amount for Bizum transactions or setting daily transaction limits. Even so, these measures do not prevent fraud based on social engineering, such as “reverse Bizum,” which consists of making a person believe they’ll receive money when they’re actually agreeing to send it.

Digital wallets

Thanks to biometrics, one-time codes, and other similar methods, digital wallets—also known as e-wallets—offer a very high level of security, provided that both the mobile device and the application are kept properly updated. In 2024, fraud involving this type of e-money transaction in Spain neared €3 million.

Bank transfer

When initiating a bank transfer, the payment is processed on the bank’s platform, so the customer does not have to enter sensitive data on the ecommerce site. For this reason, bank transfers are one of the most secure payment methods. However, when it comes to instant transfers, there’s one important caveat: since they cannot be reversed, they offer less security than traditional bank transfers.

Despite this, the incidence of fraud in bank transfers was negligible in 2024: only three out of every 100,000 transactions were fraudulent bank transfers, according to data from the Payment Fraud Report.

Direct debit

Payments by direct debit are secure for both businesses and customers. Businesses enjoy greater stability by formalizing an agreement with the customer through the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) mandate, while customers avoid unexpected charges with their mandatory initial signature.

In 2024, Spain recorded direct debit fraud amounting to more than €4 million, although these transactions only represented 0.001% of total payments.

Cash

Cash payments are very safe for paying small amounts. Since paying by cash doesn’t involve the use of technology, it doesn’t expose bank details or personal data, which eliminates the risk of digital fraud.

However, cash payments are prohibited for sums exceeding €1,000. The anti-fraud law introduced this limit for cash payments in Spain with the aim of fighting certain types of fraud, such as money laundering and tax evasion.

Cash on delivery

Cash on delivery is a particularly secure method for buyers, as they don’t have to pay until they receive the package and they don’t need to enter their bank details in an online store.

However, for businesses, cash on delivery can be more problematic. For example, conflicts could arise with the courier if a customer wants to open the package before paying. Alternatively, a customer might reject the order for reasons ranging from not having physical cash on hand to having changed their mind. This latter scenario is covered by the right of withdrawal.

Common types of payment fraud in Spain

According to the Payment Fraud Report, Spain accounted for approximately 7.6% of the fraud that took place in the European Economic Area (EEA) during 2024. This means that Spanish companies face a risk of payment fraud. Let us take a look at the most common types of fraud:

• Phishing attacks
  By creating fake websites or sending emails that appear legitimate, criminals collect login credentials, passwords, or credit card information. With this stolen or fraudulent data, they can make purchases that go unpaid or that are carried out without the victim’s knowledge. In 2024, 21,571 cases of phishing were recorded in Spain, according to data from the Spanish National Cybersecurity Institute (INCIBE).

• Abuse of the right of withdrawal
  Sometimes, customers misuse their right to cancel the effects of a contract or a purchase. Common examples include returning purchases after having used the products or demanding a partial refund for non-existent defects. To avoid certain types of return-related refund fraud, it’s advisable to withhold the refund until you receive the item.

• Chargebacks
  If customers do not accept a charge, they have the option of filing a dispute with their bank or card provider, which will initiate the cancellation of the funds transfer. Chargebacks are not always related to malicious fraud; sometimes they’re the result of customers not recognizing the charges, experiencing delivery problems, or simply wanting to avoid the return process.

• Card testing attacks
  Cybercriminals who commit card testing fraud use stolen credit card data to make numerous payment attempts in ecommerce stores. In doing so, they discover which cards remain active so they can use them to make unauthorized high-value purchases or sell the card details. To reduce the likelihood of this happening on your ecommerce site, it’s important to implement payment fraud detection and prevention measures that do not focus solely on identifying large or unusual purchases. For example, it’s advisable to rigorously verify additional information such as billing addresses.

How Stripe can help improve payment security in your business

In a high-security payment environment, payment gateways are a necessary component. Gateways provide a secure channel for the transmission of payment information among the customer, the company, and the payment processor or acquiring bank. Therefore, to enhance your company’s payment security, it’s important to choose a partner that has the strictest security certifications in the industry, such as Stripe Payments.

Stripe complies with all current regulations to accept payments from customers in more than 195 countries and integrates payment tokenization tools that replace confidential payment information—such as credit card numbers—with a unique set of random characters known as a “token.”

Meanwhile, Radar—Stripe’s anti-fraud solution—is natively integrated at all levels of the platform to maintain a perfect balance between authentication, cost, and protection. Using artificial intelligence (AI), it analyzes each payment before it affects your business, reducing fraud by an average of 38%.

If your business sells both online and in a physical store, Stripe Terminal helps you ensure the security of all payments. This solution integrates seamlessly with Stripe’s entire payment stack, unifying payments received online and in person.

FAQs about secure payment methods in Spain