Fraud Prevention and the Advent of Agentic AI Commerce 

Payments fraud is growing more sophisticated in 2026 as AI-driven technologies and tactics equip fraudsters with new tools to attack banks, payment providers, and online merchants more readily. Fraudulent actors can readily access tools to steal one-time passwords, generate deepfakes, and even automate the process of setting up fake retail sites to trick consumers. Seventy-five percent of merchants face fraud abuse, making fraud an ever-present and expanding threat. Meanwhile, 84% of merchants claim it is harder to identify fraudulent activity today, as AI-generated tools intensify the nature and frequency of attacks. 

The scale of fraudulent activity has shifted. New technologies enable not just individual fraud attempts but institutionalized fraud organizations. Bad actors now use AI-backed technologies to generate elements like synthetic identities, personalities, videos, and even voice cloning. The cost of creating AI agents that look, act, and behave like a real person will decrease, making the investment worth it for fraudsters. That means fraud rates will increase in both complexity and volume over time. 

While AI reduces friction for fraudsters, technological innovation also equips merchants and payment institutions with countermeasures. Sixty-eight percent of banks are leveraging AI to fight fraud in 2026 and 83% of anti-fraud professionals plan to incorporate generative AI into their systems. 

Fraud prevention platforms like Riskified currently use AI and machine learning to predict and address the shifting fraud landscape. Anti-fraud technology is bolstered by AI to protect customer accounts, manage verification, enforce security protocols, and monitor transactions. 

But the introduction of AI commerce into the payments space comes with its own risks and obstacles. Consumers are not yet ready to fully embrace AI in online commerce, and merchants will need to understand their concerns to most effectively implement new solutions to streamline transactions and reduce fraud.

As merchants begin to test and implement leading-edge technologies, they must be cognizant of how consumers perceive and experience agentic AI. 

Per Radial’s Q1 2026 agentic commerce research, shoppers’ trust must be earned by merchants if they are to successfully transition to agentic commerce. Even when offered time or cost-savings, 34% of consumers would allow an AI to only take approved actions, while 23% want it to make suggestions only. Over one-fifth of shoppers don’t want an AI agent to act on their behalf at all.  

Further, given that shoppers are still in the early days of working with AI tools and agents, it is unsurprising that they seek safe, transparent transactions. While the end-goal of agentic commerce may be frictionless experiences fully determined by AI agents, consumers are not yet prepared to relinquish control to AI. They want assurances from merchants that, if mistakes occur within the AI shopping journey, they will remain in control of their data and experience human support. 

Historically, merchants sought to reduce friction and perceived obstacles throughout the payments process. That way, customers could easily and seamlessly complete transactions to receive the products and services they want. Many merchants equated frictionless, easy transactions with great customer experiences. And in theory, advances in AI technology can reduce transaction friction even further. 

But with the rise of agentic commerce, consumers are now seeking a different experience. Per Radial’s research, in order for shoppers to trust AI assistants with payment information:    

 
This indicates that merchants need either highly secure payment processes within the AI model or, more likely in the early phases, the ability to leverage already established payment solutions like digital wallets or payment orchestration platforms to disintermediate the payment from the platform and ensure trust. 

Innovation does not automatically earn shoppers’ trust, and brands should consider how to design agentic experiences that create a positive feedback loop with their customers. That means listening to what their customers are saying now to shape the agentic commerce experience in the future. It’s important for modern merchants to remember that shoppers are still experiencing the earliest days of AI technology. They have the opportunity to dig into what customers really want and design an agentic experience that creates a positive feedback loop.

To effectively leverage new technologies while still creating the high-security, high-trust experiences consumers want, merchants may need to seek payment partners with deep expertise backed by cutting-edge technology. One such partner: Radial Commerce Solutions. 

Radial Commerce Solutions partners with leading technology firms like Riskified and Gr4vy to integrate agentic AI into the fraud prevention solution trusted by leading merchants. All backed by 25+ years of payments and fraud expertise. That means unparalleled white glove treatment—including understanding every aspect of your unique operations, sharing strategic insights that impact your bottom line, preventing eCommerce fraud at all levels 

With Radial Commerce Solutions, merchants can:  

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