Banks Warn AI Shopping Bots Raise Scam, Fraud and Data-Privacy Risks

Banks including NatWest and Bank of America have warned that using AI agents for online shopping could increase the risk of scams, fraud, and data-privacy breaches. According to a report by the banks, customers are enthusiastic about the potential of "agentic commerce" but are concerned that AI agents may not act in their best interests.

The banks, which also include ING, ASB Bank, Capital One, and Commonwealth Bank of Australia, highlighted risks such as AI agents buying the wrong products, overspending, or losing money to scams and fraud. They noted that consumers are unclear about whether they will be protected or who to turn to if something goes wrong.

Technology companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and Meta are promoting AI chatbots as shopping tools, while retailers like John Lewis are seeing an increase in searches originating from AI agents, which rose to 2.5% from 0.3% a year earlier, according to the Economic Times Tech.

Brief written by urgent.news from Insurance Journal, Economic Times Tech — 2 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.