Visa strengthens anti-scam push as fraud shifts to online payments

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February 11, 2026 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — Visa is stepping up scam disruption efforts in the Philippines as fraudsters increasingly abandon SMS-based schemes in favor of phishing, online card fraud and account takeovers that target the country’s rapidly expanding digital payments space.

Visa said emerging fraud patterns show scams are becoming more sophisticated and harder to detect, prompting a shift toward earlier intervention aimed at stopping illicit transactions before funds are moved.

The pivot follows Visa’s recent Risk Forum, where it engaged Philippine banks and fintechs on evolving threats and the need for stronger ecosystem-wide defenses.

Visa’s latest Biannual Threats Report showed ransomware incidents affecting the payments ecosystem surged by 41 percent in the first half of 2025, underscoring what the company described as a more volatile and unpredictable risk environment.

The figure highlights how fraud is migrating toward channels tied to e-commerce, stored credentials and real-time online payments as digital adoption accelerates locally.

“Protecting Filipinos from fraud is at the center of our work, and this means going beyond detection,” Visa country manager for the Philippines Jeffrey Navarro said.

“We are strengthening scam disruption across the ecosystem, from issuing banks and acquirers to fintechs and regulators, so we can stop scams earlier and protect consumers before money moves,” he said.

At the center of Visa’s response is its Visa Scam Disruption practice, which has disrupted more than $1 billion in attempted scams globally. Working with financial institutions and law enforcement agencies, the program has also dismantled over 25,000 scam-linked merchants worldwide.

Navarro said Visa is investing in stronger authentication, expanding tokenization, deploying AI-powered anomaly detection and sharing intelligence in real time with partners as scams increasingly target online payments.

“Visa’s role is not just to react, but to help raise the security bar for the entire industry so Filipinos can pay and be paid with confidence,” he said.

In the Philippines, Visa continues to support banks through wider use of tokenization, biometric authentication, device-bound passkeys and AI-driven monitoring tools aimed at reducing fraud risks as digital transactions grow.

The company’s expanded efforts also align with Republic Act 12010, or the Anti-Financial Account Scamming Act, requiring banks to adopt real-time fraud detection and gradually phase out one-time passwords for high-risk transactions.

The law also allows institutional partners such as Visa to share intelligence directly with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, strengthening reporting and enabling faster, coordinated responses to emerging scam threats across the financial system.

Visa said the convergence of tighter regulation, enhanced data sharing and industry-wide investments in security would be critical as fraud tactics continue to evolve alongside the country’s digital payments growth.