Visa maps out six-pronged defence against AI-driven scams in Malaysia

Malaysia's rapidly developing digital economy is confronting a more intricate fraud risk due to the integration of artificial intelligence (AI), automation, and organized scam networks, making attacks more targeted and harder to detect. In response, Visa has unveiled its Malaysia 2026-2028 Security Roadmap, outlining six key areas to bolster the nation's payment infrastructure while preserving secure and seamless digital transactions.

The roadmap follows a surge in Malaysian losses to financial scams, with RM2.97 billion stolen in 2025, the highest annual figure in three years. In 2024, information, communications technology, and e-commerce contributed 23.4% or RM451.3 billion to Malaysia's RM3.6 trillion economy.

The latest roadmap diverges from earlier frameworks introduced in 2019 and refreshed in 2023, reflecting a shift from stolen credentials to authorized payment scams exploiting trust, urgency, and human behavior. Visa's priorities encompass bolstering cybersecurity, refining authentication, broadening tokenized payments, enhancing e-commerce checkout security, reinforcing industry standards, and leveraging network-level intelligence to thwart fraud.

Visa Malaysia head of clients Jason Phua emphasized that maintaining confidence in digital payments is critical as Malaysia's digital economy expands. However, trust cannot be sustained by any single organization acting in isolation. Instead, it requires collaboration among financial institutions, regulators, merchants, technology providers, and consumers.

Phua highlighted that the threat posed by AI and automation demands security measures to become more dynamic and intelligence-driven. Visa's roadmap prioritizes strengthening protection throughout the payment process, from cybersecurity and modern authentication to tokenization, secure checkout, and reinforced ecosystem standards.

The company currently employs over 150 AI and machine-learning models in production, complemented by real-time transaction risk assessment, online authentication, and account-to-account payment protection.

Visa has invested over US$12 billion globally in technology over the past five years to fortify network security and combat fraud. Its Visa Scam Disruption program identified and dismantled more than US$1 billion in fraud attempts within a year and collaborated with law enforcement agencies to dismantle over 25,000 scam merchants worldwide.

The roadmap assigns responsibility across the payments ecosystem, with banks expected to enhance real-time risk assessment and authentication, while merchants and payment providers improve monitoring and data protection.

Regulators and industry bodies will also play a crucial role in intelligence sharing and establishing common standards, while consumers are advised to employ secure authentication, activate transaction alerts, and remain vigilant against scams.