Online stores learn to tell helpful AI shopping agents from fraud bots

Online stores are getting better at telling a helpful AI shopping agent from a fraud bot. Skyfire and Forter have expanded their partnership so that Forter's fraud checks can read an ID token showing which AI agent is buying and who sent it. In a pilot at watch retailer Jomashop, agent checkout success rose to nearly 100%.

What changed

AI agents that shop for real customers often look like bots to older bot management tools. Those tools were built to flag non-human browsing and heavy automation. Forter now accepts Skyfire's Know Your Agent (KYA) tokens. These add identity data about the agent to Forter's fraud decisions. The checkout screen does not change. The new signals travel alongside the risk data Forter already uses.

Why stores need it

The companies say old bot controls block genuine agent traffic, and that costs stores sales. At the same time, fraudsters are trying to pose as legitimate agents, and AI platforms can mask identity signals. Forter's Eran Vanounou said agentic commerce fails if retailers cannot tell an authorized buyer from a script imitating one. The combined approach checks both the AI agent and the consumer behind it.

The Jomashop pilot

Jomashop is a US online seller of watches, jewelry and accessories. It had seen bot management tools block much of its agent traffic. During the pilot, its agent checkout success rate rose to nearly 100%, with no increase in chargebacks. A chargeback is when a customer disputes a payment and the money is pulled back from the store. Osher Karnowsky of Jomashop said the tool helps the store understand who the agent is, who sent it and whether to trust the sale.

Who it affects

• Stores on Forter: meant to raise approval rates and cut chargeback risk.
• Shoppers who use AI agents: purchases may fail less often.
• Agent platforms: the default penalty on agent transactions is removed.

What is not known yet

The results come from the companies themselves, and the pilot involved one retailer. The material does not say how soon other merchants get the feature or what it costs. Forter says agent orders across its network have grown more than fourfold since August 2026. The companies call this an early model for checkout that starts with identity.