By 31 December 2025, we had 3602 active investigations, for estimated damage of over €67.27 billion. With €45.01 billion, revenue fraud (VAT and Customs) accounted for more than 67% of the overall estimated damage under investigation at the end of 2025. The proportion of investigations with a cross-border dimension (acts either committed on the territory of several countries, or which caused damage to several countries) remained stable (27%).
With 981 ongoing VAT and customs fraud cases worth €45 billion of estimated damage, both to the EU and national budgets, we are making a dent into a criminal industry that has been ignored or tolerated for far too long. This is imperative for our security in the European Union, as well as for our public finances.
0 Number of cases opened in 2025
€ 0billion Estimated damage
All active cases
Estimated damage
Number of cases
Estimated damage
Revenue fraud cases (VAT + Customs)
Number of cases
Estimated damage
Expenditure fraud cases
Estimated actual damage
Estimated damage to the EU
Expenditure fraud
Estimated potential damage
Estimated damage to other parties
Corruption in expenditure fraud cases
0Number of cases
Estimated damage
Number of cases
Estimated damage
Other fraud cases
Active cases with a cross-border dimension
Decisions to assign measures to assisting EDPs in a different participating Member State
Freezing orders granted in 2025
Assets frozen in 2025
Trends in investigations involving NextGenerationEU funds and organised crime.
By the end of 2025, the EPPO was handling 518 active cases related to the NextGenerationEU, out of which 512 stemmed from the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), corresponding to approximately 21% of all active expenditure fraud investigations.
In these 518 active cases, 1419 offences were under investigation involving altogether 1993 suspects.
The core business of the organised crime groups under investigation by the EPPO is related to sophisticated and large-scale fraudulent schemes affecting EU revenue. Investigations into the offence of participation in a criminal organisation account for 22.23% of the total estimated damage in all ongoing EPPO cases.
Within this share, revenue fraud is by far the main area of activity, representing approximately 86.66% of the estimated damage in organised crime cases.
A single investigation may target a variety of criminal offences.
This section outlines the different types of offences investigated by the EPPO.
0
Non-procurement expenditure fraud
50.53%
0
Procurement expenditure fraud
17.99%
0
Participation in criminal organisation
14.69%
0
Revenue fraud cases (VAT + Customs)
27.23%
0
Corruption
4.69%
0
Misappropriation
4.25%
0
Money laundering
9.72%
0
Inextricably linked offence
17.07%
In 2025, freezing orders of €1.13 billion were granted by competent authorities in EPPO cases. This corresponds to the value of damages recognised by the competent authorities as potentially to be recovered from the defendants, based on the elements uncovered in EPPO investigations. In the course of the year, the EPPO froze assets in value of €288.93 million. This corresponds to existing assets frozen, in view of confiscation after final judgement.
In 2025, the EPPO further strengthened its operational capacity in cross-border investigations by significantly expanding its international cooperation framework. The EPPO signed 12 new working arrangements with key judicial and institutional partners. As a result, a total of 28 working arrangements are now in force between the EPPO and its international partners.
This glossary explains the terms used throughout this report, as well as the categories used when presenting the EPPO’s statistics – for the Central Office and per participating Member State – on 31 December 2025.
