AI-Powered Scams Emerge as Dominant Payment Fraud Threat, Visa Report Highlights Shifting Criminal Tactics
Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming the landscape of payment fraud, with AI-enabled scams now representing the fastest-growing source of consumer payment fraud globally, according to Visa’s Mid-year 2026 Biannual Threats Report. The report, released in Lagos, underscores a significant shift in criminal methodologies, moving away from direct system compromises towards exploiting human trust through sophisticated social engineering tactics.
Visa’s analysis, covering the period from July to December 2025, identified nearly one billion dollars in scam-related activity, positioning scams as the largest category of consumer payment fraud. Cybercriminals are increasingly leveraging AI tools to impersonate trusted brands and institutions, create a false sense of urgency, and manipulate consumers into authorising fraudulent transactions themselves. This evolution is a direct response to enhanced network-level security measures that have diminished opportunities for traditional system breaches.
The report highlights a notable decline in fraud involving device tokens, which decreased by 9.6 per cent between July and December 2025 compared to the same period in 2024. This trend, alongside accelerating scams, the growing use of AI in fraudulent activities, and the migration of attacks from technology to human vulnerabilities, are identified as key developments shaping payment security.
Furthermore, global ransomware activity saw a significant increase of 26 per cent during the review period, relative to the corresponding period in 2024. However, the report also indicates a positive development in resilience, with only 23 per cent of ransomware victims paying ransoms, marking the lowest level on record and suggesting improved defence and recovery capabilities across the ecosystem.
Mr. Paul Fabara, Visa’s Chief Risk and Client Services Officer, commented on the evolving threat landscape, stating, “Payments at the network level continue to get safer, but threats are evolving faster than ever.” He emphasised that criminals are increasingly employing deception, urgency, and AI-enabled tools to exploit trust, necessitating stronger collaboration across the payments ecosystem.
Andrew Uaboi, Vice President and Cluster Head, Visa West Africa, further elaborated on the impact of AI, noting that it has “significantly lowered the barriers to entry for fraudsters.” He explained that tasks previously requiring deep technical expertise can now be executed with simple prompts, underscoring the critical need for intelligence-driven defence and coordinated action to protect consumers from these emerging threats. For legal professionals, compliance officers, and corporate executives, this shift necessitates a re-evaluation of fraud prevention strategies, with a greater emphasis on user education, robust identity verification, and advanced threat detection mechanisms that can counter AI-driven social engineering. Investors and business leaders must also consider these evolving risks when assessing the security posture and operational resilience of businesses within the payment and financial services sectors.
