AI Agents Will Buy Your Groceries in 2026 — But 80% of Shoppers Were Targeted by Scams Last Year

Imagine never writing a shopping list again. By 2026, artificial intelligence agents could be browsing supermarket websites, comparing prices, and completing purchases on your behalf — all while you focus on something else entirely.

That is the promise of 'agentic commerce', a rapidly emerging trend that Mastercard says will reshape how consumers and businesses handle transactions. But there is a glaring problem: the same company's research reveals that 80% of global consumers were targeted by scam attempts in the past year alone.

The question facing millions of shoppers is whether they can trust machines to spend their money when they barely trust the digital ecosystem as it stands.

Your AI Assistant Wants Your Wallet

Agentic commerce refers to AI-powered systems that can autonomously manage transactions, from booking flights to restocking your fridge. Mastercard's 2026 payment trends report confirms that while these agents proved their worth in 2025, the coming year will see 'guardrails' expanding alongside adoption.

The payments giant acknowledges the industry is now grappling with critical questions: how to verify an agent is legitimate, how to strengthen authentication and reduce fraud, and how to capture intent when an AI transaction goes wrong.

'You can automate commerce, but you can't automate trust,' Mastercard stated in its 2026 payment trends report.

That sentiment lands differently when set against the $9.5T (£7.1T) in global losses and damages from cyberattacks last year, a figure that makes cybercrime the third-largest economy in the world, according to the company's October 2025 cybersecurity survey.

Why Shoppers Already Feel Under Siege

For consumers, the statistics paint a troubling picture. Seven in 10 people say securing their information on digital platforms is harder than securing their physical home. More than three-quarters are more concerned about cyber risks than they were two years ago, and well over half think about online safety at least weekly — more often than they consider their own job security.

Perhaps most alarming is the sense of inevitability. Nearly 60% of respondents believe fraud is so pervasive that being scammed is simply unavoidable.

Johan Gerber, Mastercard's global head of Security Solutions, warned that this erosion of confidence threatens the entire digital economy. 'If people feel more vulnerable in the virtual world than in their own homes, that signals that the trust in the technology that governs our lives is under threat,' he said.

The commercial consequences are significant. Some 66% of consumers would stop shopping entirely at a retailer where they experienced transaction fraud, a blow that would hit small businesses hardest.

Younger Shoppers Are Falling Fastest

Generational divides reveal another uncomfortable truth. Despite being digital natives, Gen Z and millennials are more likely to engage with scam attempts, at 43% and 39% respectively, compared with 22% of Gen X and just 14% of baby boomers.

Ironically, younger consumers expressed the most confidence in spotting threats, with one in five claiming to be 'very confident' in identifying scams. Older generations were far more cautious, with fewer than one in 10 making the same claim.

The shame factor compounds the problem. Nearly 60% of respondents said they would feel ashamed if they fell victim to fraud, and about half would be too embarrassed to tell anyone.

What This Means for Your Wallet

As AI-generated voice cloning, deepfakes, and automated cyberattacks grow more sophisticated, nearly three-quarters of consumers agree that artificial intelligence will make it impossible to distinguish real from fake online.

For shoppers weighing the convenience of AI agents against mounting fraud concerns, the message from industry leaders is clear: innovation must be matched by ironclad security.

'Trust can't be an afterthought,' Gerber said. 'It must be the foundation of our digital lives.'

Whether that foundation can be built before your AI assistant starts spending your money remains to be seen.