BioCatch Launches Global Advisory Board to Combat Government Payment Fraud

BioCatch is launching a public-private advisory board to tackle the multi-billion dollar problem of government payment fraud. By recruiting high-ranking former tax and law enforcement officials, the behavioral biometrics firm aims to bridge the gap between banking security and public sector disbursements, protecting tax, welfare, and pension funds from increasingly sophisticated criminal networks.

What was announced

BioCatch has established a new public-private advisory board designed to assist global governments in mitigating fraud within tax, welfare, and other direct-to-citizen payment systems. The initiative focuses on identifying high-risk transactions before public funds—including unemployment benefits, pensions, and tax refunds—are transferred into bank accounts. The board’s founding members include Guy Ficco, the former Chief of IRS Criminal Investigation; John Ford, the former Deputy Commissioner of the Australian Taxation Office; and Dr. Shlomit Wagman, the former Director-General of the Israel Money Laundering and Terror Financing Prohibition Authority.

The scale of the problem is significant; data from the OECD indicates that public bodies can lose as much as 5% of their annual expenditure to fraud, potentially totaling trillions of dollars globally. In the United States, the Government Accountability Office estimates annual federal losses between $233 billion and $521 billion. To address this, the board will work to establish partnerships between BioCatch, financial institutions, and law enforcement agencies. This collaborative framework builds upon the 2024 launch of BioCatch Trust™ in Australia, a system that allows member banks to share real-time account intelligence to verify the trustworthiness of receiving accounts across different institutions. By forming this board, BioCatch seeks to create data-sharing frameworks across different verticals to prevent fraud in ecosystems that extend beyond traditional banking. The board members will collaborate with BioCatch and its customers to alert government offices of high-risk payments before those offices transfer disbursements to accountholders who might not be legally entitled to them.

The companies involved

BioCatch, currently under the parentage of Permira Advisers LLP, specializes in behavioral biometrics to prevent fraud and financial crime. The company’s technology distinguishes between legitimate human users and malicious actors by analyzing patterns in digital behavior, such as how a user interacts with a device or navigates a banking application. This behavioral intelligence is used by financial institutions globally to detect account takeover, social engineering scams, and the use of money mule accounts. BioCatch has established itself as a dominant force in the market by monitoring thousands of subtle behavioral signals—such as typing rhythm, mouse movements, and device orientation—to distinguish between legitimate users and automated bots or human fraudsters.

The company’s leadership includes CEO Gadi Mazor, who is overseeing this expansion into the public sector. The advisory board members bring deep regulatory and enforcement experience; for instance, Dr. Shlomit Wagman also serves at Integria AI, while Guy Ficco and John Ford have held senior leadership roles in the tax authorities of the United States and Australia, respectively. BioCatch’s position in the market has evolved from providing point-solutions for individual banks to creating broader networks like BioCatch Trust™, which facilitates cross-institutional collaboration. By integrating former high-ranking government officials into its strategic framework, the company is positioning its behavioral insights as a tool for national-level financial integrity, moving beyond the private sector to address the trillions of dollars lost annually in the public domain.

What FF News has reported before

FF News has closely followed BioCatch’s analysis of the shifting fraud landscape. The company recently highlighted that BioCatch Report: 90% of Banking Scams Now Target Mobile Devices as Global Fraud Rises 35%. This trend is mirrored in specific regions, with Spanish Banks Hit by 150% Surge in Fraud from Stolen Devices.

Furthermore, FF News reported on the Money Mule Activity Surges 25% at US Community Banks and Credit Unions, a critical vector for laundering stolen government funds. BioCatch has also provided commentary on international efforts to combat these threats, such as the UK and Cambodia Unite Against Scam Centres as BioCatch Warns of AI-Powered Fraud Shifts, while warning that AI is fundamentally changing the criminal model. These reports underscore the growing sophistication of financial crime that the new advisory board is tasked with addressing.

What this means

The creation of this board marks a strategic pivot for the fraud prevention industry, moving beyond private bank account protection to the safeguarding of the public purse. By recruiting former heads of the IRS and ATO, BioCatch is addressing the reality that government disbursements are now a primary target for organized crime syndicates using AI to scale operations. This move puts pressure on traditional government auditing processes, which often rely on "pay-and-chase" models rather than real-time prevention. For the wider fintech sector, success depends on whether public agencies can overcome the technical hurdles of sharing data with private providers. It raises significant questions about whether behavioral biometrics will become a mandatory standard for receiving government payments.