Banks Warn AI Shopping Agents Raise Scam and Fraud Risks

A group of banks is warning that letting artificial intelligence agents handle online shopping could expose consumers to more scams, fraud and data privacy breaches, according to Foxbusiness. The caution appears in a report from Bank of America, Capital One, the UK’s NatWest, New Zealand’s ASB Bank and Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

The banks said customer safeguards and industry standards have not kept pace with the technology, even as shoppers show growing appetite for automated purchasing. In the report, the banks described consumers as unsure whether an AI agent will act in their interests at all.

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Key facts

• The warning came in a report from Bank of America, Capital One, NatWest, ASB Bank and Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
• UK retailer John Lewis said AI agent searches grew from 0.3% of searches last year to 2.5% this year, with the agent share of traffic also rising.
• The banks flagged risks such as AI agents asking for card details and entering them into websites directly, or routing customers toward payment methods with weaker protections.
• The group wants disclosure when an agent is part of a transaction, clarity on how agents make decisions, and stronger data safeguards.
• They also said consumers and merchants should be able to pick their own AI e-commerce services, with different systems able to work together.

Where the risk sits

Agentic AI differs from an ordinary chatbot. It can carry out tasks and interact with other systems with some degree of autonomy the user grants it, so it can complete a purchase or fill in a form rather than just answer a question. That shift is what makes the payment step the sharp edge of the problem.

The banks’ report said customers worry an agent might buy the wrong item, spend too much, or lose their money to fraud, and they are uncertain whether they would be protected or who to turn to when something goes wrong.

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Tech companies are pushing out more capable agents that shoppers can use to follow products and buy on their behalf. The banks argued that, unless that growth is held in check, the consumer risk grows with it.

Why it matters

The warning lands at a point when AI agents are moving from novelty to everyday shopping infrastructure, which puts card details, payment routing and personal data in the hands of software acting on a user’s behalf. If the banks’ proposals become policy, shoppers could start seeing notices that an agent is handling a transaction and get more visibility into how that decision was reached.

The dispute is also a competitive one. Bank-backed payment rails and agent-driven checkout flows are converging, and the question of which protections apply may shape how much consumers trust automated buying.

The group stopped short of asking for a ban. Instead it made the case for interoperability and free choice on the user’s side, framing the issue as a gap in standards rather than a reason to slow the rollout.

What to watch

The banks plan to take their proposals to policymakers, so the next concrete step is whether regulators pick up the call for transaction disclosure, decision transparency and data safeguards. Any movement on those three points would set the rulebook for agentic commerce.

Written by

Benjamin

Benjamin Carter covers business, finance, and the stock market for StockPil, focusing on the trends and data that matter to everyday investors.

Source: Fox Business