Five Forces Reshaping Payment Security in 2025

This document is a Biannual Threats Report by Visa, focusing on the evolving landscape of payment security as of Fall 2025. It outlines five transformative patterns identified by Visa's Payment Ecosystem Risk and Control (PERC) team that illustrate how fraud is becoming more systematic and industrialized. The report details the shift from opportunistic fraud to organized, scalable operations, highlighting the use of advanced technologies such as AI by criminals. It presents evidence of a significant increase in the sophistication of fraud tactics, including the use of synthetic identities and automated systems for executing scams. The report also discusses Visa's proactive measures to combat these threats, including the implementation of AI-driven analytics and global intelligence sharing to disrupt fraud networks before they can scale. Additionally, it addresses the challenges posed by the authenticity crisis, where traditional verification methods are becoming less effective against increasingly sophisticated fraudulent activities. Overall, the report emphasizes the need for a transformative approach to payment security to keep pace with evolving threats.