A new Gartner Inc. report suggests that financial fraud could drive consumers away from banks and into the arms of electronic payment systems, such as PayPal, that they perceive to be more secure. The report, based on surveys of 5,000 adults, estimates about 7.5 percent of U.S. adults lost money to some form of financial fraud in 2008.

Gartner’s results add to a growing body of evidence that fraud costs banks customers, not just dollars. In 2008, victims of electronic-checking and/or savings-account transfer fraud were five times more likely to change banks because of security concerns. Fraud involving credit and debit/ATM cards was the method most actively used by crooks to steal money, claiming 36 percent more victims in 2008 than other types of fraud, according to Gartner.