Romance scams carried out by artificial intelligence and computers scamming other computers are among the top five fraud trends to watch out for in 2026, according to a new report by credit reporting agency Experian.
Experian said its data found nearly 60% of companies reported an increase in fraud losses from 2024 to 2025. “This year’s forecast shows fraudsters are rapidly weaponizing technologies to launch attacks that are more autonomous and harder to detect,” it said.
Among the top five fraud trends for 2026 were romance and relative-in-need scams, which were traditionally carried out by people using false identities. Now AI can carry out these complex scams, according to Experian.
“These bots will respond convincingly, build trust over time, and manipulate victims with precision and emotion,” the company said. “As they become harder to distinguish from real people and good bots, Experian predicts fraud will scale faster and become more financially and psychologically damaging.”
Another risk comes as more companies incorporate AI to conduct routine transactions while fraudsters increasingly turn to AI to commit fraud. “With machine-to-machine interactions initiating transactions without clear ownership of liability, businesses will face growing uncertainty around agent ownership, intent and risk,” Experian said.
The other top fraud trends include the use of deepfake technologies to create fake resumes and backgrounds for job candidates, unsecured smart home systems, and the use of website cloning to replicate legitimate websites for phishing schemes.
