Visa, a leader in global payments, has announced that its Scam Disruption Practice has identified over 1 billion USD in fraud attempts since its inception just a year ago – and over $260 million in Europe alone. Working with clients and law enforcement teams around the world, the unit has dismantled more than 25,000 scam merchants.

Every day, scammers are more sophisticated and scalable due to the proliferation of AI. Visa Scam Disruption is staying ahead by using AI for good – coupled with deep human expertise – to identify complex, malicious scams and stop them before they impact potential victims.

A recent example of the team’s activities includes:

• Scam Merchant Takedown: In Europe, the Scam Disruption team has been working to take down a large network of thousands of scam merchants operating in the EU and North America. Over 1,000 merchants were targeting cardholders through a variety of methods, from posting fake QR codes, social engineering, or serving consumers misleading pop-up ads to trick them into entering their payment details. The network was responsible for over $44 million in reported fraud – but, after working with law enforcement teams and acquirers, we have successfully taken down the entire network.

David Capezza, interim Chief Risk Officer, Visa Europe, commented: “As Visa Europe’s interim Chief Risk Officer, I witness the almost-daily evolution of the payment threat landscape, and I’m proud to lead Visa’s continued fight against fraudsters. Scams are personal and can have a long-lasting financial and psychological impact on individuals and families.

“Identifying $1 billion in fraud attempts is a significant milestone, but it’s just the beginning. Our team wakes up every day thinking about the people being targeted – the ones looking for love, or booking a once-in-a-lifetime holiday, or starting a new business – and doing everything we can to protect them.”

Alongside this milestone, Visa has also worked to strengthen one of the company’s core ecosystem protection programs, the Visa Integrity Risk Program, to further support bank clients in their detection of deceptive merchant practices. Combatting scams requires collaboration across the entire ecosystem and a 360 approach that places equal, if not greater, emphasis on prevention as on mitigation.

David Capezza continues: “Visa will continue to make investments in technology, our bench of experts, and our global network that allow us to identify scams early – regardless of where they originate, or who they are targeting – and work closely with our partners and clients to take swift action to stop them.”