Trend Micro forecasts 2026 scams as AI-driven, multi-channel and emotion-engineered fraud
Trend Micro released its 2026 Consumer Security Predictions Report on December 3, 2025. It warns that scams will reach unprecedented scale as fraudsters combine automation, AI-generated personas, voice cloning and deepfake media with emotional manipulation. The report expects multi-channel scam journeys to become the dominant pattern in 2026, with victims moved from social media or SMS into encrypted chats and fraudulent payment pages. Relationship and investment scams are forecast to cause the highest financial losses, while high-volume impersonation scams (delivery, billing, subscription renewal) remain the most common threat. The release also promotes the vendor's ScamCheck tool. This is a forward-looking vendor assessment, not a report of a specific incident.
Technical Details
- Fraudsters use AI to clone voices, write personalized messages and shift conversations across SMS, chat apps and fake websites.
- AI chatbots, deepfake companions and manipulated imagery blur the line between real and synthetic interactions in relationship and investment scams.
- Crypto investment fraud is expected to expand through scam-as-a-service networks.
- Instant payment fraud is expected to surge, exploiting peer-to-peer money apps and irreversible transfers.
- Impersonation campaigns increasingly rely on localized smishing kits and professional-grade branding.
- Traditional indicators such as poor spelling or grammar are becoming obsolete.
Remediation
- Adopt "verification-first" habits: identity checks and cross-channel verification of unexpected messages, calls and payment requests.
- Treat convincing, polished messages as potentially engineered to manipulate trust.
- Use tools that check suspicious texts, links, social messages and phone numbers, such as the vendor's ScamCheck.
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Trend Micro forecasts 2026 scams as AI-driven, multi-channel and emotion-engineered fraud
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Trend Micro released its 2026 Consumer Security Predictions Report on December 3, 2025. It warns that scams will reach unprecedented scale as fraudsters combine automation, AI-generated personas, voice cloning and deepfake media with emotional manipulation. The report expects multi-channel scam journeys to become the dominant pattern in 2026, with victims moved from social media or SMS into encrypted chats and fraudulent payment pages. Relationship and investment scams are forecast to cause the highest financial losses, while high-volume impersonation scams (delivery, billing, subscription renewal) remain the most common threat. The release also promotes the vendor's ScamCheck tool. This is a forward-looking vendor assessment, not a report of a specific incident.
Technical Details
- Fraudsters use AI to clone voices, write personalized messages and shift conversations across SMS, chat apps and fake websites.
- AI chatbots, deepfake companions and manipulated imagery blur the line between real and synthetic interactions in relationship and investment scams.
- Crypto investment fraud is expected to expand through scam-as-a-service networks.
- Instant payment fraud is expected to surge, exploiting peer-to-peer money apps and irreversible transfers.
- Impersonation campaigns increasingly rely on localized smishing kits and professional-grade branding.
- Traditional indicators such as poor spelling or grammar are becoming obsolete.
Remediation
- Adopt "verification-first" habits: identity checks and cross-channel verification of unexpected messages, calls and payment requests.
- Treat convincing, polished messages as potentially engineered to manipulate trust.
- Use tools that check suspicious texts, links, social messages and phone numbers, such as the vendor's ScamCheck.