JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Visa prevented 80 million fraudulent transactions worth $40 billion globally last year thanks to investments in technology including artificial intelligence (AI), a senior company figure said on Tuesday.

In 2025, cybercrime is projected to cost the world $10.5 trillion. If this were a nation's gross domestic product, it would rank as the world's third-largest economy, Charles Lobo, the Regional Risk Officer for Visa in Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa told Reuters.

This comes as scams evolve in sophistication, with criminals using new approaches to trick unsuspecting consumers and businesses in a digitally evolving world.

Worldwide, the world's largest payments processor has invested over $10 billion over the past five years in technology, including $500 million on AI and data infrastructure to protect clients and customers from fraudulent activity.

"In just the last year, those investments, how have they benefited us? We've blocked $40 billion of fraudulent transactions. That's 80 million transactions prevented," Lobo told Reuters on the sidelines of a Visa payment security conference in Johannesburg, South Africa.

"Now despite that, there's still a lot of bad that's happening," he added.