Experian has published its Identity and Fraud Report on how AI is changing digital transactions and fraud exposure for consumers and businesses.
The global data and technology company found that AI tools are becoming embedded in everyday commerce, with 31% of consumers stating they have already used AI tools for online shopping and transactions, and a further 23% saying they would take it into consideration.
Comfort levels fall, however, when decisions involve higher stakes: only 21% of respondents said they were comfortable relying on AI for travel-related purchases, and 17% for financial services decisions. More than half of consumers surveyed stated they are concerned about AI-enabled scams.
Fraud losses growth
According to data cited from the US Federal Trade Commission, individuals suffered USD 15.9 billion in fraud damages in 2025, an increase of 27% compared to 2024. Experian noted that actual losses are likely higher, since many incidents go unreported. Its research found that in the past year, close to one in five people experienced direct financial losses from online fraud, while 15% said an attempted fraud was prevented before causing loss. Among victims, 72% reported feeling more vulnerable online as a result.
In addition, phishing scams were the most frequently reported fraud type among consumers, at 26%, followed by fake advertising (19%), package delivery scams (16%), credit card theft (16%), unauthorised charges (15%) and fraudulent bank transactions (15%). On the business side, 60% of companies reported fraud losses higher than in previous years, while 77% look forward to fraud management budgets to go up.
AI’s contradictory nature – between threat and defence
Businesses identified AI-generated phishing as their leading AI-related fraud concern, cited by 53% of respondents, followed by AI-assisted first-party fraud (51%), document forgery (45%), automated bot attacks (40%) and deepfake voice scams (37%). At the same time, companies are turning to AI to counter these risks: 80% of organisations reported using machine learning or generative AI within fraud management systems to identify suspicious activity, support identity verification and strengthen fraud detection.
Identity verification as a trust factor
The report points that for 71% of consumers online identity recognition is a growing expectation. At the same time, 84% of respondents said they would agree to complete additional security steps if necessary to prevent fraud.
Since AI pays a significant role in digital transactions, companies need trustworthy verifying tools that can check both the consumer and the AI agents that act on their behalf. To address the verification needs this creates the company recently launched Experian Agent Trust, a service intended to extend its identity and fraud prevention capabilities to cover the verification of AI agents in addition to individual consumers.
