Visa Report Warns of Rising AI-Powered Payment Scams
Visa has released its mid-year 2026 Biannual Threats Report, revealing that scammers are increasingly using artificial intelligence and social engineering to manipulate consumers into authorizing payments themselves.
The report highlights a major shift in the global fraud landscape. While payment security systems continue to strengthen, criminals are now focusing more on exploiting human trust rather than breaching technology systems.
According to Visa, scams became the fastest-growing source of consumer harm between July and December 2025, with nearly $1 billion in scam-related activity identified during the period.
Criminals Shift from Technology to Human Manipulation
Unlike traditional payment fraud, many of today’s scams do not require hacking systems or stealing card information.
Instead, fraudsters impersonate trusted brands, financial institutions, and service providers. They create urgency and pressure victims into completing legitimate-looking transactions.
Paul Fabara said the changing fraud landscape requires stronger collaboration across the payments ecosystem.
“Payments at a network level continue to get safer, but threats are evolving faster than ever,” he said.
He added that criminals are increasingly targeting people through deception, urgency, and AI-enabled tools designed to exploit trust.
Four Major Threat Trends Identified
The report outlines four key trends shaping global payment security.
First, Visa noted that stronger authentication systems and network protections are working. Fraud involving device tokens declined by 9.6 percent compared to the same period in 2024.
However, scammers are rapidly shifting toward social engineering attacks.
Secondly, scams are now the dominant consumer payment threat globally as criminals prioritize manipulation over technical breaches.
The report also found that artificial intelligence is transforming fraud on both sides. Fraudsters now use AI to create more convincing scams at scale, while payment companies increasingly rely on AI-powered defenses to detect suspicious activity earlier.
Additionally, global ransomware activity increased by 26 percent during the second half of 2025.
Despite the rise in attacks, only 23 percent of victims paid ransoms, marking the lowest payment rate recorded so far.
AI Lowers the Barrier for Fraud
Michael Jabbara warned that AI is making fraud easier to execute.
“The rapid adoption of AI has fundamentally lowered the barrier to entry for fraud,” he said.
He noted that attacks that previously required advanced technical expertise can now be carried out using simple AI prompts.
Consequently, Visa says intelligence-driven defenses and coordinated action across banks, merchants, policymakers, and technology players will become increasingly important in protecting consumers.
Ultimately, the report shows that as payment systems become more secure, fraudsters are adapting quickly by targeting the human side of digital payments.
