Holiday Fraud Trends 2025: The Top Cyber Threats to Watch This Season

Holiday fraud in 2025 is evolving faster than ever, as attackers use AI, automation, and stolen data to launch large-scale campaigns.

As the 2025 holiday season approaches, fraud activity is already accelerating.

According to data from KasadaIQ, attackers are starting earlier, automating faster, and leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to blur the line between human and bot activity.

Across the retail, hospitality, and quick-service restaurant (QSR) industries, researchers warn that this year’s fraud landscape may surpass all previous records in both scale and sophistication.

Unwrapping the top Holiday fraud trends of 2025

Fraud operations have evolved into an industrialized ecosystem.

Automation kits, stolen account data, and malicious configurations — known as configs — are traded with the same efficiency as legitimate software tools.

Generative AI is fueling this trend, enabling attackers to mimic authentic consumer behavior and bypass traditional fraud detection systems. KasadaIQ’s analysis reveals that adversaries are ...