Scammers now trick buyers into paying instead of stealing card data

Piotr Kozłowski, who leads payments and fraud prevention at the digital games marketplace G2A.COM, says fraud is changing. As more shoppers pay directly from their bank accounts, criminals care less about stealing payment details. They would rather trick the buyer into approving the payment.

What changed

These direct bank payments are called account-to-account, or A2A, payments. They are secure, but not immune to fraud. Scammers use phishing, fake customer support, social engineering or account takeover, which means breaking into someone's account. The goal is to get the buyer to approve the payment. The bank then sees a real customer who logged in and said yes, so the payment looks legitimate. The approval, though, was won through deception.

Why speed matters

Kozłowski points to a hard combination: instant payment and instant access to digital goods. There is very little time to spot a scam, and once access is granted, getting money back or limiting the damage is much harder.

He says criminals rarely attack the payment systems. They go after people, using AI-powered phishing and impersonation. G2A says it uses real-time risk checks, analysis of user behavior and controls tailored to each market. It also educates its users, and Kozłowski says technology alone will not be enough.

What is not known

The piece is an editorial from The Paypers' Account-to-Account Payments Report 2026. It gives no figures on how common these scams are or how often victims recover their money.