AI 代理代购兴起，发卡机构用支付 token 控欺诈

By PYMNTS  |  November 6, 2026

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A card issuer can give an artificial intelligence shopping assistant permission to buy a customer’s groceries without giving it a card number it could use to buy anything else.

That distinction was central to “When Fraud Becomes the Customer: The Next Battlefront for Issuers,” the September edition of the Payments Innovation Tracker® Series from PYMNTS Intelligence. Criminals can now use AI to mimic a customer’s voice, face and even typing rhythm. That makes it harder for an issuer to rely on a single check at login or checkout.

The report found that issuers have another way to protect customers as AI agents start shopping for them. They can use a digital token, a substitute for a card number, to specify what the customer has agreed to pay for.

Key findings from the report:

• A customer can delegate one purchase at a time. Think of a payment token as a hotel key card that opens only the guest’s room. An issuer can limit the token to a particular merchant, type of purchase or dollar amount. In the grocery example, the agent could pay for an order within the customer’s budget. If someone stole the token, the same limits would still apply. The thief wouldn’t have the underlying card number.
• Issuers see a need for stronger protections. Among card issuers whose customers generated high value over the life of the relationship, 68% said AI agents need stronger security and fraud prevention to shop on customers’ behalf. There’s a financial incentive to get those controls right. Across card issuers surveyed, 42% ranked fraud and disputes among the two largest costs of running their card platforms.
• Routine purchases can stay simple. Issuers can use what they’ve learned from earlier transactions to decide when a purchase warrants another check. A familiar payment can go through with little interruption. Unusual activity can prompt the issuer to ask the customer for confirmation. That distinction has practical value. In a FICO survey cited in the report, one-third of organizations said their fraud systems frequently flagged legitimate activity.

Other findings showed what issuers stand to protect. Half of financial institutions said fraud had damaged customer loyalty and 44% reported harm to their brands or reputations.

Many institutions already have tools they can build on, including identity checks inside their banking apps. Pairing these checks with a token that carries the customer’s spending instructions gives issuers a way to support a new shopping habit while keeping the customer in control of the purchase.

At PYMNTS Intelligence, we work with businesses to uncover insights that fuel intelligent, data-driven discussions on changing customer expectations, a more connected economy and the strategic shifts necessary to achieve outcomes. With rigorous research methodologies and unwavering commitment to objective quality, we offer trusted data to grow your business. As our partner, you’ll have access to our diverse team of PhDs, researchers, data analysts, number crunchers, subject matter veterans and editorial experts.

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