Visa (NYSE: V), a world leader in digital payments, today released its Spring 2026 Biannual Threats Report, revealing that scams have become the fastest-growing source of consumer harm as criminals in...
Autore: Business Wire
Spring 2026 Biannual Threats Report shows how strengthening payment security is pushing criminals toward AI-enabled social engineering
SAN FRANCISCO: Visa (NYSE: V), a world leader in digital payments, today released its Spring 2026 Biannual Threats Report, revealing that scams have become the fastest-growing source of consumer harm as criminals increasingly use artificial intelligence and social engineering to manipulate people into authorizing payments themselves.
The report draws on intelligence from Visa’s global network and underscores a critical shift in the fraud landscape: while core payment security continues to strengthen at the network level, criminals are redirecting their efforts away from technical system compromises toward exploiting human trust.
From July to December 2025, Visa identified nearly $1 billion in scam-related activity, making scams the single largest category of consumer payment fraud. Unlike traditional fraud, these attacks typically do not require breaching technology. Instead, scammers impersonate trusted brands and institutions, manufacture urgency, and deceive victims into completing legitimate-looking transactions.
“Payments at a network level continue to get safer, but threats are evolving faster than ever,” said Paul Fabara, Chief Risk and Client Services Officer at Visa. “Criminals are increasingly targeting people rather than technology, using deception, urgency and AI-enabled tools to exploit trust. Addressing this shift requires continuous innovation at the network level and close collaboration across banks, merchants, policymakers and the broader payments ecosystem.”
Four trends shaping the global payment threat landscape
The latest edition of the Biannual Threats Report identifies four major trends reshaping payment security worldwide:
“The rapid adoption of AI has fundamentally lowered the barrier to entry for fraud,” said Michael Jabbara, SVP, Payment Ecosystem Risk and Control at Visa. “What once required deep technical skill can now be executed with a prompt. That reality makes intelligence-driven defenses and coordinated action across the ecosystem more critical than ever. With this report, our goal is to help leaders act sooner – before fraud reaches consumers.”
The full Spring 2026 Biannual Threats Report can be viewed here. For more information on how Visa protects the global payments ecosystem, visit Visa.com/security.
About Visa
Visa (NYSE: V) is a world leader in digital payments, facilitating payments transactions between consumers, merchants, financial institutions and government entities across more than 200 countries and territories. Our mission is to connect the world through the most innovative, convenient, reliable and secure payments network, enabling individuals, businesses and economies to thrive. We believe that economies that include everyone everywhere, uplift everyone everywhere and see access as foundational to the future of money movement. Learn more at Visa.com.
Fonte: Business Wire