Mastercard’s AI-Powered Solution: Safeguarding UK Banks and Customers against Real-Time Payment Scams

A number of UK banks are using Mastercard’s AI capabilities to assist anticipate and stop real-time payment scams.

The global leader in payments has introduced its “Consumer Fraud Risk” system in the nation, which makes use of extensive payment data to assist spot scams before money leaves a victim’s account.

The instrument is based on learnings from Mastercard’s collaboration with UK banks to track the movement of money mule accounts during the last few years. By overlaying this data with particular analysis variables, such as account names, payment amounts, payer and payee histories, and the payee’s connections to accounts linked to scams, banks are given the knowledge they need to step in in real time and stop a payment before money is lost.

Of the nine lenders using the technology, Lloyds, Halifax, Bank of Scotland, NatWest, Monzo, and TSB are some of them. The program has “dramatically increased” TSB’s fraud detection in just four months.

According to TSB’s Paul Davis, director of fraud prevention, “Our partnership with Mastercard is providing the intelligence needed to identify fraudulent accounts and prevent payments from ever reaching them.”

According to Mastercard, the approach may significantly reduce APP fraud, which has been increasing over the past few years and now represents 40% of UK bank fraud losses.

Ajay Bhalla, president of Mastercard’s cyber and intelligence division, says banks have found it extremely difficult to identify these schemes. Criminals haven’t needed to circumvent any security measures because their consumers pass all the necessary checks and transmit the money themselves. This kind of fraud erodes victims’ confidence to connect online as we all lead more digital lives.

Now, Mastercard is considering additional markets for the technology.