Online shoppers face a major threat as AI-powered scams could surge in 2026, Experian warns
Many of those who support the integration of AI into businesses tout it as a tool to make things easier for workers. This has also prompted retail chains and e-commerce platforms to bring in AI bots to enhance the shopping experience. As a result, customers often find themselves dependent on AI assistants for day-to-day tasks. However, this is where one needs to be careful, because according to Experian’s 2026 Future of Fraud Forecast, there are bots designed to scam people out of their money.
According to a report by Fortune, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission found that AI scams skyrocketed between 2024 to 2025, with consumers losing more than $12.5 billion to fraud, while 60% of companies recorded higher losses. The data also shows that such scams are getting more and more efficient at stealing people’s money as time goes on, since financial losses increased by 25% even though the number of fraud reports remained constant at 2.3 million a year.
Unfortunately, there seems to be no respite from such scams, with Experian believing that the situation will worsen in 2026. In a separate survey, the global data and technology company revealed that nearly three out of four business leaders say AI fraud and deepfakes will be a major challenge this year. In fact, Experian itself predicted that the situation will get so bad that we will be forced to talk about the regulations and liability of AI agents in e-commerce.
As it turns out, top e-commerce platforms like Amazon already have some fraud protection systems in place, with the Seattle-based giant banning all independent third-party bots from browsing and purchasing products on its platform. In November 2025, Amazon even sued Perplexity to stop its AI browser agent, Comet, from being used to buy products on its platform, saying the move was needed to protect users’ security and privacy. However, according to Kathleen Peters, the chief innovation officer for fraud and identity at Experian North America, stopping traffic just because it's a bot is not enough in this day and age.
Peters insists that with AI now taking over all aspects of our lives, we should question whether a bot is malicious or genuine before blocking it. Supporting her point further, she added, “We want to let the good agents through to provide convenience and efficiency, but we need to make sure that doesn’t accidentally become a shortcut for bad actors.”
If consumers give an AI agent permission to purchase something from an e-commerce site, the retailer might not have a choice but to try and find a way to manage bots. Management is also not that easy since a retailer needs to look at every bot separately to figure out if the agent is genuine, has proper permissions to purchase products, and has a real consumer behind it instead of a cybercriminal. On top of that, AI-based transactions can harm retailer-customer relationships, as bots can buy products and disappear, leaving e-commerce companies with no chance to build loyalty or recommend items based on a customer’s needs.
Peters claims that it's helping cybercriminals, since they now require little to no expertise to run efficient scams that are bound to fool consumers.
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