Visa expands scam disruption amid evolving risk landscape, blocking $1 billion in fraud attempts globally

02/06/2026

• The Visa Scam Disruption practice has identified over $1 billion in fraud attempts in a year, and has worked closely with law enforcement agencies to dismantle more than 25,000 scam merchants

 

Visa (NYSE: V), a global leader in digital payments, has announced that it has disrupted more than $1 billion in scams globally through the Visa Scam Disruption practice, or VSD. Working with clients and law enforcement authorities around the world, VSD was able to dismantle more than 25,000 scam merchants, strengthening security for payments.

Operating under Visa’s Payment Ecosystem Risk and Control group, VSD is Visa’s global, proactive anti-scam capability combining intelligence, investigation, detection models, and partnerships to fight fraud on a global scale. VSD forms part of Visa’s $12-billion investment over the last five years to reduce fraud and enhance network security, utilizing proprietary technology and business intelligence to protect clients and consumers.

Increasing sophistication of fraud

The rapid digitization of payments has also given rise to newer, more diversified attacks against payments security. Visa’s Biannual Threats Report noted a 41% increase in ransomware incidents affecting payments ecosystem in the first half of 2025, underscoring a more unpredictable threat landscape.

Across underground forums, Visa further noted a 477% increase  in mentions of “AI agent,” signaling that criminals are moving from reactive to opportunistic fraud with increasing automation of social engineering, data extraction, and transaction execution. AI is increasingly being deployed to conduct fraud, with industry reports showing that more than 80% of phishing emails¹ now using AI-generated content. 

Smarter, more proactive fraud protection

With large populations across highly diverse economies, Asia Pacific drove 67% of global scam losses in 2023², underscoring the need for more agile fraud protection in the region. In the Philippines, suspected digital fraud rate stood at 13.4%, higher than the global average of 5.4%³.  

“Payments security for Filipinos is a top priority for Visa, and our investments in scam disruption underscore our commitment as well as deep expertise in anticipating, detecting, and disrupting emerging threats. We work closely with government and financial institutions to protect Filipino consumers from fraud, helping build trust and further broaden adoption of digital payments in the country,” said Visa Philippines Country Manager Jeffrey Navarro.

In 2024, the Republic Act 12010, or the Anti-Financial Account Scamming Act (AFASA), was signed into law, strengthening the country’s response against fraud and scams. Under the new law, banks are mandated to employ real-time fraud detection while phasing out one-time passwords (OTPs) for high-risk transactions. The law also enables institutional partners like Visa to share intelligence instantly with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), enhancing reporting mechanisms for  faster and more responsive industry-wide controls against fraud. 

 

Jeffrey Navarro, Country Manager, Visa Philippines, addressing more than 100 of the Philippines’ banking and payments risk leaders at its Annual Risk Forum to discuss emerging risk trends and threats to the payments ecosystem. Visa proactively stays ahead of risks by embracing the power of AI to protect businesses and consumers around the world.

 

Axel Boye-Moller, Head of Value-Added Services for Visa in Asia Pacific, Stefaan D’Hoore, Regional Risk Officer for Visa in Asia Pacific, and Jeffrey Navarro, Country Manager, Visa Philippines, at the Annual Visa Forum in the Philippines.

 

 

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¹ Sprinto. (2024). Social engineering statistics you need to know. https://sprinto.com/blog/social-engineering-statistics/

² Global Anti-Scam Alliance (GASA) – 2024 Asia Scam Report; Anti-Scam Asia Summit 2023

³ TransUnion Philippines. (2025, April 28). Philippines suspected digital fraud rate higher than global level for fifth consecutive year [Press release]. TransUnion.

 

About Visa

Visa (NYSE: V) is a world leader in digital payments, facilitating 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.