Six banks warn AI shopping agents raise fraud risks

Six major banks warned Tuesday that AI shopping agents could unleash a new wave of scams, fraud and data-privacy breaches, calling for industry standards and auditable records before autonomous checkouts become commonplace. The paper, titled Building Trust in Agentic Commerce and published Sept. 22, was co-authored by ASB Bank, Bank of America, Capital One, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, ING and NatWest. It defines agentic commerce as the use of AI agents to help make or facilitate payments between consumers and merchants, ranging from a simple product search to an agent selecting and purchasing an item without the customer reviewing the final choice. The banks proposed that providers preserve evidence of consumer instructions, authentication, intent, transaction decisions and outcomes, along with any warnings or interventions, giving participants a basis to investigate scams, recover money and resolve disputes. They also called for secure, auditable methods of entering payment credentials, disclosure when an agent is involved in a transaction, and liability that reflects where an error or risk entered the chain.