AI Becomes the New Weapon in Cyber Scams, Here’s How Visa Protects Consumers
AI Becomes the New Weapon of Cyber Scammers; Here’s How Visa Protects Consumers
Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – The modus operandi of digital scams continues to evolve, with perpetrators increasingly leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to broaden reach and boost the success of social engineering attacks.
According to a recent Visa report, The Anti-Scam Playbook: Market Responses and Industry Insights (May 2025), global losses from fraud exceed US$1 trillion in the period August 2022 to August 2023. In Asia alone, losses in 2024 are projected to reach US$688 billion, making it one of the regions with the greatest economic impact from digital fraud.
‘DFrom the patterns we observe across Visa’s global network, we see that fraud is no longer relying on a single trick. The modus operandi will become increasingly complex, combining AI-generated voice, video, and text tailored to language, habits, and even the victims’ emotions. In other words, not only company executives are targeted, but also members of the public receiving texts with voices sounding like their relatives,’ said Nitia, Head of Risk, Visa Indonesia, on Wednesday, 4 March 2026.
Fraud Trends in Asia: Social Engineering and Account-to-Account Transactions
Visa defines scam as payments authorised by the victim because they were deceived – unlike fraud, which generally occurs without the account holder’s knowledge. Today, more scams are occurring through money transfers or account-to-account (A2A) transactions, no longer limited to payment cards.
This cross-channel shift aligns with the rapid growth of digital payments and real-time transactions in the Asia-Pacific region. The report also notes that almost half of the world’s population experiences a fraud attempt at least once every week.
Digital banking users and digital applications are frequently targeted by social engineering that causes them to hand over personal data or access banking information. Perpetrators typically direct victims to click on links that appear convincing, enabling access to the victims’ accounts.
Indonesia’s Position in the Regional Landscape
Indonesia is among the countries that have adopted a variety of anti-scam initiatives, from strengthening authentication, cross-industry collaboration, to public-awareness campaigns, in line with regional practices.
The rapid growth of digital wallets, QR payments, and real-time transactions shows the acceleration of national digital transformation. While this convenience offers great benefits, it also demands stronger and more sustainable consumer protection.
Fraud patterns in Indonesia also show local adaptation, including use of regional languages, misrepresentation of official institutions, and imitation of promotions from popular platforms. This underscores the importance of mitigation strategies that are contextual and relevant to local dynamics.
Whole-of-Ecosystem Approach
Visa emphasises that effective fraud prevention requires a whole-of-ecosystem approach, involving financial institutions, telecom providers, digital platforms, payment networks, regulators, law enforcement, and consumers as an integral part of the protection system.
In countries such as Singapore, Australia, and Taiwan, the liability and accountability framework has become part of the national strategy to strengthen consumer protection, with approaches tailored to each country’s payment system structure.
Visa Initiatives
As criminals become more sophisticated, Visa continues to strengthen its defenses through strategic investment. In the last five years, the company has allocated more than US$13 billion for technology and innovation, delivering an AI-enabled system that analyses billions of data across 11 billion endpoints and more than 200 billion transactions each year. This capability enables Visa to block almost twice as many fraud-related e-commerce transactions in 2025, thereby reducing fraud rates across its network.
Completing these technological advances, Visa’s multi-layered defence framework is designed to detect risks early and reinforce the resilience of the entire payment ecosystem. Through close collaboration with banks, fintech platforms, and industry partners, Visa proactively tests new threat vectors, shares actionable intelligence, and provides ongoing guidance to strengthen collective defence.
With cross-sector collaboration and ongoing consumer education, these efforts form the foundation of a safer and more resilient digital payments ecosystem, particularly in the face of AI-based fraud, including in Indonesia.
Furthermore, Nitia provides several tips to help consumers avoid AI-based scams. First, be wary of messages or calls that sound too convincing or urgent.
Consumers are also advised not to take visual or audio content at face value without verification and to always use official channels to conduct transactions or share personal information.
‘Enable layered security features such as two-factor authentication and promptly report any suspicious activity to your bank or related financial service provider,’ said Nitia.