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Visa has released its Spring 2026 Biannual Threats Report, highlighting a significant shift in the fraud landscape as strengthening payment network security pushes criminals toward AI-powered social engineering and scams.
Visa’s latest threats intelligence shows that while core payment systems are becoming more secure, fraudsters are rapidly adapting by targeting people rather than technology.
Scams have emerged as the dominant consumer threat. Unlike traditional fraud that relies on breaching systems, these attacks use impersonation of trusted brands, manufactured urgency, and deception to trick victims into authorizing payments themselves.
“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.”
- **Security is working, but fraud is migrating**: Device token fraud declined 9.6% year-over-year, validating stronger authentication measures even as overall attack volumes rise. - **Scams are accelerating**: Social engineering now represents the primary threat to consumers. - **AI is transforming fraud on both sides**: Fraudsters use AI to create more convincing attacks, while security teams leverage AI for faster detection. - **Ransomware economics are shifting**: Activity increased 26%, but only 23% of victims paid ransoms — the lowest rate on record.
“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.”
This report underscores the importance of continuous innovation and collaboration among banks, merchants, policymakers, and the payments ecosystem to address evolving threats.
About Visa
Visa 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.
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