Shopping used to mean walking into a store, or at most, clicking through a website you trusted. Now it means scrolling Instagram, tapping a link an influencer shared, and letting an AI assistant help narrow down the choices before you even reach checkout. The convenience is real, but so is the risk. In Bahrain, 68% of consumers have bought something directly through social media, and 43% of those who fell victim to a scam say it happened on that same platform.
Ahmed ElKaffass, Country Manager for Bahrain at Visa, talks about what this shift means for consumer trust. As AI agents move from helping people compare products to potentially making purchases on their behalf, the question of who is responsible for ensuring transaction safety becomes harder to answer. ElKaffass points out that most consumers do not see fraud prevention as their own job. They expect banks, platforms and payment providers to share that responsibility.
He also explains why only a small fraction of Bahraini consumers currently trust AI to complete a purchase for them, even though most already use AI tools while shopping, and what businesses need to do to close that gap.
In Conversation with Ahmed ElKaffass, Country Manager for Bahrain, Visa
With more consumers discovering and purchasing products through social platforms, are fraud risks keeping pace? What needs to happen to ensure these experiences remain both secure and convenient?
Social commerce has reshaped the shopping journey and is becoming an increasingly important channel to digital commerce. As more consumers discover and buy products through influencers and social media channels, both businesses and fraudsters have new opportunities to reach customers. Visa’s latest Stay Secure research found that 68% of consumers in Bahrain have purchased directly through social media platforms, while 43% of those who experienced a scam said it happened on social media. Fraudsters are exploiting trusted environments through fake storefronts, impersonation and deceptive promotions, often before a payment even takes place.
This evolution requires stronger security standards. That means embedding trust throughout the shopping journey, from the moment a consumer discovers a product to the moment they complete a purchase. Real-time risk detection, stronger authentication, trusted payment experiences and greater collaboration between platforms, merchants, banks and payment providers all have a role to play. Consumers expect digital experiences to be both convenient and secure, and it’s up to the industry to deliver on both. Trust is what ultimately enables consumers to embrace new commerce experiences with confidence.
Where do you think the biggest gaps remain in protecting consumers from digital fraud?
The commerce ecosystem is more connected than ever, but that also makes it more complex. Organisations typically see only one part of the consumer journey, while fraudsters operate across the entire ecosystem. Trust cannot be built by any single organisation acting alone. Staying ahead requires collaboration across banks, merchants, technology platforms, payment providers and governments.
Our research found that only 13% believe they should be primarily responsible for protecting themselves from fraud. Instead, they expect banks, payment providers and technology platforms to work together to create safer digital experiences. Effective collaboration helps to prevent fraud at the earliest stage by identifying emerging threats earlier and coordinating responses across the ecosystem, and reinforces consumer confidence in digital commerce.
Our global network provides visibility across billions of transactions, allowing us to identify patterns and emerging threats that individual organisations may not see on their own. Combined with partnerships across the public and private sectors, this network-level intelligence helps strengthen the resilience of the entire payments ecosystem.
As AI agents begin making purchases on consumers’ behalf, what safeguards will be needed to ensure people remain in control?
AI is already transforming how people discover products, compare options and make purchasing decisions. It has the potential to make commerce more intuitive, personalised, and efficient than ever before. Our Stay Secure research found that 83% of consumers in Bahrain have used AI tools to assist with shopping, yet only 28% would trust an AI agent to complete a purchase on their behalf. This tells us that while consumers are excited about what AI can offer, they are not yet ready to hand over the final decision-making. The future of AI-powered commerce will ultimately be determined not by what AI can do, but by how much consumers trust it.
As AI becomes more embedded in commerce, trust will depend on experiences that are transparent and secure. People need to know when and how AI is being used and remain in control of every transaction. Transparency, accountability and consumer control will be fundamental to mainstream adoption. That requires intelligent fraud prevention and security that is built into the experience from the very beginning.
Through initiatives such as Visa Intelligent Commerce, we are working with partners across the ecosystem to ensure AI-powered commerce delivers greater convenience without compromising consumer trust or security. Innovation can only scale when trust is built into the experience from the start.
What do you think will separate the e-businesses that thrive in an AI-driven commerce landscape from those that don’t?
Businesses need to build trust into every part of the customer experience, beyond just the point of payment. In an increasingly AI-powered and digitally connected economy, trust is becoming a business differentiator rather than simply a security requirement. As AI becomes more embedded in the shopping journey, consumers will increasingly expect strong security systems, transparency, and control, along with convenience, in every interaction.
Meeting those expectations requires a broader approach to security. Businesses need to think beyond protecting the payment itself and focus on securing the entire customer journey. As commerce becomes increasingly connected, delivering that level of security will also require closer collaboration between merchants, banks, technology platforms and payment providers.
As Bahrain advances its Economic Vision 2030 ambitions, the businesses that embed trust and security into every customer interaction will be best placed to drive the next phase of digital commerce. The businesses that succeed will be those that view trust not simply as a security requirement, but as a strategic advantage. When consumers trust an experience, they engage more confidently, adopt new technologies more quickly and participate more fully in the digital economy.
READ MORE: Visa Study Reveals Surge in Consumer Security Awareness for Digital Payments in Bahrain
