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Payment Intelligence Report – Fraud & Scam Landscape (January 2026)
The SISA Sappers January 2026 Edition reports a fundamental paradigm shift: the institutionalization of Agentic Commerce. The primary security challenge has evolved from blocking bots to authenticating authorized AI software agents via the “Cryptographic Handshake”. To maintain parity, merchants must adopt verification frameworks like the Trusted Agent Protocol (TAP) to validate agent intent and distinguish legitimate programmatic purchases from malicious actors attempting to spoof agent headers.
Concurrently, fraud vectors are migrating “upstream” to total identity compromise. The report details the rise of SMS Blasters (localized IMSI catchers) which mimic cell towers to bypass carrier filters, delivering high-fidelity smishing lures directly to devices. This infrastructure allows “Phantom Hackers” to execute Authorized Push Payments (APP) by securing identity access before a transaction ever occurs, rendering traditional transaction-level limits ineffective against authorized overrides.
Future-proofing is now a critical operational requirement. The “Harvest Now, Decrypt Later” threat demands an immediate migration to Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) using algorithms like ML-KEM. Furthermore, regulatory bodies are enforcing dynamic trust; the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has mandated the removal of SMS-based OTPs in favor of dynamic authentication factors. Success in 2026 requires implementing “Know Your Agent” (KYA) procedures to secure the full authorization chain between user and software.
SISA is a Leader in Cybersecurity Solutions for the Digital Payment Industry. As a Global Payment Forensic Investigator of the PCI Security Standards Council, we leverage forensics insights into preventive, detective, and corrective security solutions, protecting 1,000+ organizations across 40+ countries from evolving cyberthreats.
Our suite of solutions from AI-driven compliance, advanced security testing, agentic detection/ response and learner focused-training has been honored with prestigious awards, including from Financial Express, DSCI-NASSCOM and The Economic Times.
With commitment to innovation, and pioneering advancements in Quantum Security, Hardware Security, and Cybersecurity for AI, SISA is shaping the future of cybersecurity through cutting-edge forensics research.
