Every Scammer Leaves a Trail,
Visa is Following it
Miami, Florida – April 9, 2026 – At the 2026 Visa Latin America Trust Summit in Miami, Visa (NYSE: V) today revealed that scams are now the one of the largest and fastest-growing category of consumer fraud in the world — and they are getting more sophisticated, more targeted, and more personal every day.
"Every time someone taps a card, clicks 'buy,' or sends money digitally, they are placing trust in a system expected to work instantly, smoothly, and securely. People should not have to think like fraud experts to shop online or transfer money to a relative. That trust is the foundation of digital commerce — and at Visa, protecting it is our most important job,” Paul Fabara, Chief Risk and Client Services Officer.
Scammers thrive by hiding in plain sight — impersonating trusted brands, exploiting everyday moments, and preying on unsuspecting consumers. But every scammer leaves a digital trial. And Visa has built a team whose entire mission is to follow it.
The Visa Scam Disruption (VSD) practice doesn't just defend against scammers — it hunts them down. Modeled after elite threat intelligence operations, VSD brings together cybersecurity engineers, AI developers, former law enforcement, military professionals, and data visualization experts. Armed with generative AI tools, proprietary technology, and unmatched network-level data, the team identifies patterns, connects the dots, and helps identify and disrupt scam operations.
Combating Fraud in Action: An Illustrative Travel Scam Case in Mexico
Travelers in Mexico began reporting a troubling pattern: they were being pressured into making card payments for taxi rides and hotel services — often after their card was taken out of sight or following urgent demands from service providers. In this illustrative case, some payments were being processed through what appeared to be a legitimate travel platform. But something wasn't right. Banks flagged the suspicious activity and alerted Visa and VSD went to work.
By analyzing transaction data and cross-referencing publicly available information, VSD identified that several smaller businesses operating under the legitimate payment platform were using it as cover for fraud. The signs were clear: unusual transaction patterns, abnormally high decline rates, and fraud behavior no legitimate business could explain. Through this work, VSD identified approximately $67.2 million in attempted fraud and $1.17 million in confirmed fraud .
Visa engaged the payment platform and its banking partner to launch a formal remediation plan inclusive of suspending high-risk merchants, introducing mandatory identity verification for all card transactions, enhancing real-time fraud monitoring across the platform, reducing transaction limits and implementing daily forensic analysis to catch anything that slipped through. The outcome: a major scam network dismantled, millions in potential fraud stopped, and countless travelers protected.
The Threat Is Evolving. So Are We.
Fraudsters are now using generative AI to make scams faster, more convincing, and harder to detect. Imagine the taxi scam above, but supercharged: flawless fake payment pages, automated messages that feel eerily personal, and scam networks that spin up across multiple countries overnight.
Visa is moving faster, scaling automation and deploying advanced detection tools, VSD is identifying scams earlier, responding quicker, and neutralizing threats more effectively than ever before.
"The goal is not just to stop fraud — it is to make secure commerce feel effortless. Security cannot be a bolt-on feature added after innovation happens. It must evolve alongside the way people shop, pay, and live,” Oscar Marquez, Regional Risk Officer, Visa Latin America and the Caribbean.
Over the last five years, Visa has invested $13 billion in cyber, fraud, and risk capabilities. While no system can prevent every instance of fraud, every person who taps, clicks, or swipes deserves to do so with complete confidence — and that is a commitment Visa works to support every single day through continuous investment and collaboration.
This is just a glimpse of what Visa's risk and security teams are tracking and defeating across the globe. Visa's Spring Biannual Threats Report will go deeper — covering emerging fraud typologies, AI-powered scam tactics, and the trends reshaping the risk landscape in Latin America and beyond.