A global survey suggests that every second person in Pakistan fell victim to online financial fraud in 2024, while one out of every five people faced digital scams more than once.
The findings of a survey conducted by Wakefield Research on behalf of Visa in the CEMEA region (17 markets in Africa, Eastern Europe and the Middle East) including Pakistan found that “more than half of consumers in Pakistan (55%) have previously fallen for a scam (in 2024), compared with 52% in 2023. In fact, an unfortunate 20% have been victims on multiple occasions.”
Such fraud cases are on the rise as the digital economy in the country grows, where businesses and people are fast adopting online payment solutions as an alternative to cash and cheque-based transactions.
In this backdrop, Umar S Khan, the country manager for Pakistan and Afghanistan at Visa – a world leader in digital payments – told Business Recorder the company has invested $14 billion in artificial intelligence (AI), other technologies and network connectivity in the last five years to protect its consumers from online financial frauds.
The firm is on the way to bringing biometric payment solutions and introduce biometric verification methods in Pakistan, wherever possible, aiming to replace the current two-step authentication and verification processes. It is also working to scale up token-based secured payment solutions in the country.
“Naturally, there is a surge in cyberthreats,” Khan said while giving a talk on the increasing adoption of online payment solutions and the growing size of the digital economy in the country.
The impact of these scams is significant for consumer confidence and loyalty in Pakistan, with more than half (53%) believing that experiencing fraud or an unauthorized transaction would reduce their trust in digital payments.
Yet, it is noteworthy that among those who have been a past victim of a scam, 84% mostly or completely trust digital payments, more than the level of trust of those who have never fallen for fraud (80%), the survey added.
Wakefield Research surveyed 500 adult people aged over 18-year in Pakistan.
Khan said “We are investing in AI capabilities for risk and fraud management. We are also moving away, wherever possible, beyond traditional authentication methods. The two-step authentication method remains in place today, but we are moving towards biometric (enabled authentication/verification method). We are working to bring biometric solutions for online payment to Pakistan.”
He added that Visa is highly optimistic about the future of token-based payment solutions and is actively pursuing their implementation in the Pakistani market. These solutions are designed to protect sensitive payment credentials by replacing them with unique digital tokens. In the event of a fraud attempt, the original payment information—such as credit card numbers and related data—is not stored on payment machines, significantly reducing the risk of data theft. Each time a credit or debit card is tapped, a unique token is generated to replace the actual credentials, adding a robust layer of security to digital transactions.
Pakistan offers opportunity to digitalize ‘big payments’
Khan said Visa sees large payments as a big opportunity for its business in Pakistan, as most of the digital transactions done in the country are of small tickets. Big payments are still made in cash or via cheques. “We have identified ‘big payment’ credentials worth $255 billion a year out of the growing digital economy in Pakistan. We are working on it along with our partners in the country. The government and big businesses like fast moving consumer goods (FMCGs) are the potential big payment makers and receivers.”
“Some 89% of all financial transactions are now conducted through digital payments,” Khan said while citing the State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) latest report title ‘Payment System Review’, estimating “85% – 90% – and potentially even more – of large-value payments are still made in cash or by cheque.”
“Look at the government’s agenda, businesses’ agenda and general macroeconomic needs; there is a big circulation of B2B (business to business) payment. In all this, the government has a focus, the regulator is focused and this is a priority area for Visa as well,” he said.
“In that we have identified certain opportunities where within large payments the medium to small ticket size can be digitized today. In that there is fleet management payments, supply chain payments, supply chain credit, B2B acceptance (wholesale distributors who work with small retailers), who accept stock big payments,” he said.
“We are about to announce soon a first partner in Pakistan for B2B acceptance…a big FMCG works with 300-400 distributors.”
Fraud attempts of $203bn blocked
Khan said Visa blocked attempts for financial scams worth $203 billion in 2024 using its AI-enabled risk and fraud management and system.
“Every month, we block 90 million attacks on our APIs and web applications across the globe – including Pakistan. We block 340 million bot attacks every month. We block 11 million phishing attempts every month that are attempted through means including email and OTPs and protect our users from revealing sensitive information.”
The global leader in digital payments helped make and/or receive payments worth $13.2 trillion through 233.8 billion transactions in 2024 that was 10% higher compared to 2023, Khan said.
The size of the likely frauds was insignificant considering Visa worked with 14,500 partners in 200 countries around the globe. It held 4.7 billion payment credentials across the globe then.
Boomers, Gen-X on high risk of fraud
The Visa official in Pakistan warned that people belonging to the Baby Boomer and Gen-X generations – i.e. born between 1946 and around 1980 – were more prone to digital financial scams, as they are not tech savvy.
AI is now being used to create highly realistic, live-like voices – mimicking executives from well-known companies or even close relatives. These AI-generated voices are often coupled with a fabricated sense of urgency, such as claims of being in an emergency and needing money immediately. Scammers are also leveraging this technology to craft convincing offers, like fake prize notifications – (e.g.: have won Rs30,000 in a lucky draw or you have received an Umrah ticket), prompting people to act impulsively, he said.
This new wave of deepfake scams and voice cloning fraud represents a significant shift in how phishing attacks are executed.
Previously, phishing primarily relied on poorly written emails that were easier to identify. Today, generative AI can create highly targeted, context-aware phishing messages, often crafted around common themes such as delivery notifications (e.g “your package is here”).
For someone who does not usually receive courier emails, receiving one can still feel suspicious – but many fall for it due to how convincing these messages have become, he added.
