Trend Micro today (January 13th) released its "Top 1 Scam Trends Predicted for 2026," pointing out that AI-driven scams have become mainstream globally, with criminals using AI for multi-channel infiltration and customized manipulation. For the Taiwan market, Trend Micro has also updated its "AI Fraud Expert" app, launching a new "Family Guardian Circle" feature, attempting to build a tighter protective network through mutual reminders among family and friends.
Trend 1: The weaponization of social media platforms – a cross-platform traffic-driving war.
In the past, scams might have occurred through a single channel, but now fraud groups are more adept at using "combined attacks." Trend Micro points out that global fraud has evolved into hybrid attacks that combine messaging, voice, and video.
In Taiwan, the most common tactic is "social media referral." Scam groups first place ads or fake posts on public platforms such as Facebook and Instagram to build initial trust, and then ask victims to "add LINE" for private chat.
The purpose of this approach is to circumvent the review mechanisms of public platforms. Once it enters encrypted communication software (such as LINE), cybersecurity software will find it difficult to proactively detect malicious links in the conversation content, forming a "flash scam chain" that is difficult to trace.
Trend Two: Taiwanese shoppers love online shopping, and "online shopping scams" are becoming a major local problem.
While global trends show that romance scams and investment scams result in substantial losses, in Taiwan, online shopping scams are the most prevalent. According to data from the National Police Agency's 165 Anti-Fraud Dashboard, online shopping scams will continue to rank first from the second half of 2025.
Criminals exploit people's desire for bargains, using tactics such as offering prices below market value and limited-time offers to lure them into placing orders. Furthermore, text message scams impersonating logistics companies are rampant, with nearly half of the public having received phishing text messages asking them to click on links to confirm delivery information.
Trend 3: As AI scales up, automated content generation makes "farming and killing" more realistic.
The widespread adoption of AI technology has lowered the barrier to entry for fraud. Through deepfake technology and automated generation tools, fraud groups can quickly create highly realistic images, voices, and dialogue scripts.
Trend Micro predicts that in the future, AI will be able to automatically research targets, write customized messages, and dynamically adjust fraud strategies. This will allow the traditional "nurturing and killing" method to achieve a higher success rate and scale without requiring a large number of people.
Trend 4: Instant authorization payment fraud is on the rise
With the increasing convenience of money transfer tools, "authorized push payment fraud" is rapidly emerging. Fraudsters impersonate banks or merchants, using emergency situations such as "account freeze" or "abnormal deductions" to induce victims to "voluntarily" authorize transfers in a panic.
Because these transactions are authorized by the victim and the funds are usually "transferred and gone," they are often difficult to recover once sent. Surveys show that only 13% of victims choose to report the incident to the police immediately, indicating that public awareness of such methods remains low.
Trend 5: Impersonation scams are even being exploited, with even internet celebrities falling victim.
Besides traditional fake banks and logistics companies, even "micro-influencers" or moderators of interest-based social media groups can now be impersonated by AI. Fraud groups exploit the public's trust in brands to lure victims; surveys show that over 60% of Taiwanese people have seen fraudulent websites impersonating well-known brands.
AI-powered fraud prevention expert's new feature: "Family Guardian Circle"
Faced with the pervasive nature of AI-driven fraud, relying solely on personal protection is no longer sufficient. Trend Micro has launched a "Family Guardian Circle" feature in its "AI Fraud Prevention Expert" app.
This feature allows users to add family members (especially the elderly or children) to their protection circle. When a member's phone receives suspicious calls, text messages, or attempts to add strangers as LINE friends, the system uses AI to assess the risk and immediately sends an alert notification to the primary caregiver. This allows younger generations familiar with digital tools to become digital bodyguards for their elderly family members, extending protection from the individual to the entire family.
However, Trend Micro also acknowledges limitations in protecting user privacy. Currently, it can only determine whether a user is likely to be scammed based on their actual operation process and other clues, and then display a prompt message on the screen to remind the user that they may be facing a scam. However, it cannot immediately determine whether there is a risk of scam by "spying" on the user's private information.
For example, if fraud groups use deepfake technology to generate fake images and audio content to deceive people, at this stage, users can only rely on the identification tools provided by Trend Micro to verify them. Therefore, users are urged to be vigilant, be wary of suspicious content, and actively verify it to avoid being harmed by fraud groups exploiting their psychological vulnerabilities.
