Payments giant Visa says a new wave of autonomous AI agents is rapidly transforming online fraud into a faster and more dangerous threat.
Visa says agentic AI is enabling criminal networks to automate the work once handled by coordinated teams of human scammers.
The firm reports a more than 450% increase over six months in dark web posts referencing “AI agent,” reflecting rising demand for automated fraud tools.
“What once required coordinated teams of skilled fraudsters can now be executed by AI, automating workflows necessary to design and deploy scams, tailoring social engineering tactics, and rapidly creating convincing criminal infrastructures for higher efficacy and victim monetization.”
Visa highlights that scammers are targeting consumers who deploy AI agents as their unique personal shoppers. According to the payments giant, fraudsters are putting together fake websites that look entirely legitimate to pass security checks, while offering prices well below market rates. The modus enables scammers to trick AI agents into handing over a user’s financial credentials that could subsequently be used for unauthorized purchases.
“In these scenarios, both sides of the fraud — the creation of the fake merchant and the exploitation of the consumer’s AI agent — are automated to improve fraudster outcomes.
Visa saw a 25% increase in malicious bot-initiated transactions over the past six months, with the US experiencing a 40% increase, a share expected to grow as agentic commerce scales. The speed and sophistication of these systems mean adversaries can spin up thousands of targeted operations in minutes and adapt instantly to detection measures.”
The firm is now urging financial institutions and payment processors to build verification systems that could detect fraudulent AI-generated content across all media types.
“Verification processes should draw on independent data sources and employ time-based challenges that are harder for AI to circumvent. Continuous monitoring must be enhanced to detect rapid operational changes — a hallmark of AI-driven criminal enterprises.”
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