Latest news with #fraudprevention
Forbes
17 hours ago
- Business
- Forbes
Why AI Fraud Prevention Must Be Built For The Real World
Chris Brown, President at VASS Intelygenz, drives AI and deep tech innovation and implementation across industries, delivering tangible ROI. Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming fraud prevention, but only when it moves beyond theory into practice. Financial institutions are under pressure to stop sophisticated fraud in real time, with minimal false positives and without adding friction for customers. While commercial solutions offer a starting point, they often fall short at scale or fail to adapt to evolving threats. What businesses really need is fraud prevention powered by AI that is accurate, explainable and deployable at enterprise speed. Fraud is no longer sporadic. It's adaptive, continuous and increasingly aided by AI itself. Financial institutions and digital-native businesses face not just more fraud, but smarter fraud that requires smarter defenses. Why AI Is Uniquely Suited To Fraud Fraud is dynamic, data-heavy and high-volume, which makes it an ideal match for machine learning (ML). AI systems can learn patterns across millions of transactions, detect anomalies invisible to rule-based systems and flag suspicious behavior in milliseconds. But building a high-performing fraud model is only half the equation. To deliver real-world value, these models must be tightly integrated with existing systems, comply with strict regulations and continuously learn from new data. A Case Study In Real-Time Detection Consider the case of a major U.S. fintech company battling significant debit card fraud despite already using a commercial system. We partnered with them to develop a custom ML-based solution that scored over three million transactions per day, handled peak loads of 100 requests per second and delivered fraud decisions in under 300 milliseconds. The model aligned with business metrics like detection rate and false positive ratio and explained every decision at both the model-wide and transaction level. This initiative wasn't simply about outperforming a previous system. The AI engine we implemented was designed for high throughput. The system used a diverse set of features, combining transactional data with historical, temporal and behavioral insights across multiple entities. Explainability was embedded at both macro (model-wide) and micro (per-transaction) levels to meet compliance and internal audit standards. Over four months of shadow testing, our system improved true positive detection by 93% while reducing false declines by over $110 million. These results weren't just model-driven. They came from tight infrastructure planning, domain-specific feature engineering and a full MLOps lifecycle for continuous improvement. Key Ingredients For Success Real-world fraud prevention demands far more than just a clever algorithm; it requires a strong, integrated foundation. Machine learning models can only be as effective as the data they're trained on. This means building high-quality, well-governed and consistently updated data pipelines that ensure reliable inputs. While AI can handle the bulk of transaction triage, human-in-the-loop systems remain essential for managing complex edge cases and for supplying ongoing feedback that refines model performance. Equally important is explainability and fairness. In regulated environments, organizations must be able to clearly articulate why a decision was made, necessitating systems that are transparent, bias-aware and fully auditable. Compliance must be baked in from the start, with models that align with current regulations, support independent validation and generate traceable records of decisions. Finally, none of this works without infrastructure that can scale. Real-time fraud detection hinges on low-latency systems capable of serving precomputed features instantly, providing an architectural advantage that makes sub-second decision-making not just possible but standard. Governance, Not Guesswork: Compliance From Day One Effective fraud prevention systems require more than just accurate models. They demand trust, transparency and ongoing oversight. From day one, these systems should be built with fairness in mind, excluding sensitive variables, documenting decision logic and maintaining traceable logs for auditability. A human-in-the-loop approach ensures nuanced, edge-case decisioning and continuous model improvement driven by analyst feedback. By embedding governance into the foundation, organizations build solutions that scale with both sophistication and integrity. The Road Ahead: Smarter And More Flexible AI The next frontier combines traditional ML with large language models and graph-based techniques. These hybrid AI stacks will be key in tackling unstructured data from KYC and compliance workflows, while still supporting structured transaction analysis at scale. No matter the tech stack, AI fraud prevention must be built not just for accuracy, but for explainability, speed and integration. To fight fraud effectively, companies need solutions that are not only smart but also production-ready. That means deploying AI with the right mix of data, governance, infrastructure and human insight. Fraud moves fast, and your defenses must move faster. Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Team breaking scams ‘spell' stops £3.5m going to criminals in first half of 2025
A fraud prevention team set up to 'break the spell' on victims has stopped £3.5 million of funds getting into the hands of criminals in the first six months of this year. Santander UK's specialist Break the Spell team intervenes in situations where it is suspected that customers are being tricked and manipulated by scammers such as romance and payments fraudsters. Victims of crimes such as romance fraud can end up being highly manipulated by a complex web of stories. They may also be discouraged by criminals from speaking to anyone or encouraged to lie if their loved ones or their bank ask them what is happening. Santander's specially-trained team, which uses behavioural psychology, encourages people to open up and supports them, for example by signposting them to further sources of support such as Citizens Advice and the Samaritans, depending on the circumstances. Cases may be referred to it when there are 'red flags' with payments that people are attempting to make. Referrals may also be made from branches. Michelle Pilsworth, head of fraud and customer experience, said the crime dealt with by the team 'is a particularly horrible and cruel crime'. She told the PA news agency that the team supports people who have been tricked into sending money to people they believe they are in a relationship with, as well as people who have been tricked into believing they are helping organisations such as the police or HM Revenue and Customs. Ms Pilsworth said: 'The reason it's complex is the level of social engineering… a quick call is not going to 'break the spell'.' She continued: 'We have to work a long time with them to try and help them see that that is a spell that they're under.' Ms Pilsworth said the team was set up to help understand what fraud victims are going through and to 'work with them'. In some cases, victims may be starting to have their own doubts about a fraud following an initial call from the bank, by the time they are contacted by the Break the Spell team. 'Quite often they will say by that point: 'Yes, it doesn't sound right, I've had time to think',' Ms Pilsworth said. 'At that point we will break the spell and we will educate them and stop the payment, protect the funds, all that good stuff.' But for some people, further intervention may be needed, she said, which could be via calls or branch visits. Staff work to build trust with the customer over time. As the customer explains to staff what they have been told, seeds of doubt in the customer's mind may then start to emerge, for example if they recall that they were expecting to meet the romance scammer but they did not turn up. Ms Pilsworth said: 'We get them to realise what's happening to them. And then, it's all about support, how do we support that person.' Scammers will often try to regain their victim's trust, and so for some people, changing their phone number is a way to stop contact. Some scammers may even pretend that they can help victims recoup funds they have already lost. 'Many colleagues keep customers for days, weeks, sometimes months, because it's a long process,' said Ms Pilsworth. Sometimes people may feel embarrassed or angry, but Ms Pilsworth said: 'We say: 'Look, this can happen to anybody, from the work we've done we can see this happens to anyone'.' Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
The Independent
2 days ago
- Business
- The Independent
Team breaking scams ‘spell' stops £3.5m going to criminals in first half of 2025
A fraud prevention team set up to 'break the spell' on victims has stopped £3.5 million of funds getting into the hands of criminals in the first six months of this year. Santander UK's specialist Break the Spell team intervenes in situations where it is suspected that customers are being tricked and manipulated by scammers such as romance and payments fraudsters. Victims of crimes such as romance fraud can end up being highly manipulated by a complex web of stories. They may also be discouraged by criminals from speaking to anyone or encouraged to lie if their loved ones or their bank ask them what is happening. Santander's specially-trained team, which uses behavioural psychology, encourages people to open up and supports them, for example by signposting them to further sources of support such as Citizens Advice and the Samaritans, depending on the circumstances. Cases may be referred to it when there are 'red flags' with payments that people are attempting to make. Referrals may also be made from branches. Michelle Pilsworth, head of fraud and customer experience, said the crime dealt with by the team 'is a particularly horrible and cruel crime'. She told the PA news agency that the team supports people who have been tricked into sending money to people they believe they are in a relationship with, as well as people who have been tricked into believing they are helping organisations such as the police or HM Revenue and Customs. Ms Pilsworth said: 'The reason it's complex is the level of social engineering… a quick call is not going to 'break the spell'.' She continued: 'We have to work a long time with them to try and help them see that that is a spell that they're under.' Ms Pilsworth said the team was set up to help understand what fraud victims are going through and to 'work with them'. In some cases, victims may be starting to have their own doubts about a fraud following an initial call from the bank, by the time they are contacted by the Break the Spell team. 'Quite often they will say by that point: 'Yes, it doesn't sound right, I've had time to think',' Ms Pilsworth said. 'At that point we will break the spell and we will educate them and stop the payment, protect the funds, all that good stuff.' But for some people, further intervention may be needed, she said, which could be via calls or branch visits. Staff work to build trust with the customer over time. As the customer explains to staff what they have been told, seeds of doubt in the customer's mind may then start to emerge, for example if they recall that they were expecting to meet the romance scammer but they did not turn up. Ms Pilsworth said: 'We get them to realise what's happening to them. And then, it's all about support, how do we support that person.' Scammers will often try to regain their victim's trust, and so for some people, changing their phone number is a way to stop contact. Some scammers may even pretend that they can help victims recoup funds they have already lost. 'Many colleagues keep customers for days, weeks, sometimes months, because it's a long process,' said Ms Pilsworth. Sometimes people may feel embarrassed or angry, but Ms Pilsworth said: 'We say: 'Look, this can happen to anybody, from the work we've done we can see this happens to anyone'.'
Free Malaysia Today
3 days ago
- Business
- Free Malaysia Today
K Maheswari: From hockey captain to transparency leader
As an athlete and regulatory officer, K Maheswari broke barriers and lifted others. (K Maheswari pic) PETALING JAYA : If there's one person who knows how to read the field and intercept trouble before it strikes, it's Maheswari Kanniah. The former captain of Malaysia's women's hockey team built a reputation for sharp instincts, tactical discipline, and fearless leadership on the field. Her ability to read the game and rally a team was second to none. She's since brought those same qualities to an entirely different turf — the high-stakes world of financial compliance and fraud prevention. It's a space where the pace is relentless, the risks are real, and the margin for error is even smaller. And she's just scored two final goals before retiring on Thursday as group chief regulatory and compliance officer at Kenanga Investment Bank Berhad. K Maheswari at the ACFE global fraud conference in Nashville, USA in June. (Victor Goodpasture pic) Maheswari has been recognised by the Malaysia Book of Records as the first Malaysian elected to the ACFE board of regents. She is also the first in Southeast Asia to receive the ACFE's outstanding achievement in outreach and community service award. ACFE stands for the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, essentially, the champions league of anti-fraud professionals. To be recognised by this global body for financial integrity is no small feat. But for Maheswari, it's just another well-earned win in a career that has spanned nearly five decades and transitioned seamlessly from sports arenas to boardrooms. It's the final whistle on a 47-year career built on discipline, conviction, and a refusal to play safe, whether on the pitch or in the corporate trenches. Turf to trust Before she was in high finance, Maheswari was patrolling the centre-half position in one of Malaysia's most iconic hockey squads. Malaysia's bronze medal-winning women' hockey squad at the 1982 Asian Games in New Delhi. (K Maheswari pic) She was part of the national team that clinched bronze at the 1982 Asian Games in New Delhi, a breakthrough for women's sports at a time when female athletes were often sidelined. Captained by the legendary goalkeeper Mary Soo, the team fought not just for a medal, but for visibility, respect, and a place in history. That squad, widely regarded as Malaysia's finest women's hockey team, laid the groundwork for today's rising stars. Maheswari's early juggling act between sports and study was shaped by her late father, a champion of education who believed knowledge was the real passport to success. That mindset served her well as she transitioned from athlete to regulatory officer. 'Sport taught me discipline. Finance taught me structure. Combining both gave me an edge — the ability to see what others might miss,' said Maheswari, 65. K Maheswari at the international fraud awareness week in Kenanga last November with (L-R) Ganesh Thuraisingham, ACFE head Asia Pacific & Middle East, MACC chief Azam Baki and Chay Wai Leong, group managing director of Kenanga. That advantage proved vital in her rise through the financial services sector. At Kenanga, she didn't just head compliance, she transformed it. Her approach made regulatory governance not just a function, but a living culture. One of her defining contributions is the creation of fraud awareness week, an interactive, gamified compliance programme that's now in its eighth year. What started as an internal initiative now involves over 500 participants across Malaysia and abroad, and recently earned Kenanga another Malaysia Book of Records entry, 'Most Participants in Fraud Awareness Games.' 'Compliance doesn't have to be boring. It has to matter,' she said. 'People remember what they enjoy, and they take it seriously when they feel involved.' She also spearheaded Kenanga's corporate partnership with the ACFE, becoming the first Malaysian organisation to join the alliance. The number of certified fraud examiners in the bank jumped from two to 25 in just three months under her leadership. Breaking barriers, lifting others 'Representation matters. When people from our part of the world lead on global platforms, we challenge the narrative. We expand the lens,' said Maheswari. Her role as regent is already bearing fruit. Malaysia will host the ACFE Asia-Pacific Fraud Conference for the first time next month, bringing together regulators, compliance professionals and law enforcement under one roof. Behind Maheswari's accolades is a firm belief in nurturing others. She is a fierce advocate for mentorship, believing that lifting others isn't an option. 'It's a responsibility.' 'I was lucky to have mentors who believed in me. Now I try to be that voice for someone else,' she said. 'You rise higher when you rise together.' She has spent years mentoring young compliance professionals, particularly women trying to find their footing in a demanding and often male-dominated industry. Maheswari's leadership also helped shape Kenanga's Speak Up Policy and its move to onboard Confide, a third-party whistleblower platform and the first of its kind in Southeast Asia, founded by a whistleblower, for whistleblowers. 'Integrity isn't what's written in the code of conduct. It's how people feel when they see something wrong, and whether they feel safe enough to say something.' Retiring, but never out of the game With mentorships to continue, international conferences to help shape, and a global anti-fraud community to strengthen, she sees her next chapter as more coach than captain. After nearly half a century of defending principles and protecting trust, Maheswari's legacy is not just about being the 'first'. 'It's about opening the door for many more to follow.' The unbreakable bond K Maheswari shares with her hockey teammates continued at an outing in Taiping over the weekend. (Standing from left): Elizabeth Gomez, Halimahton Yaacob, Ong Pek Im, Agnes Leong, Lau Siew Tang, Noraihan Bahai and HK Parameswarie. (Seated): Lum Sau Foong and Maheswari Kanniah. (K Maheswari pic) Maheswari's career is a masterclass in transformation. From a star athlete to globally recognised compliance leader, she's spent a lifetime creating pathways, not just for herself, but for others. She changed how institutions think about risk. She made ethics a team sport. And she reminded Malaysia, and the world, that true leadership is never about the title. 'It's about showing up, speaking up, and standing firm. 'I never set out to break records. I set out to do what felt right, and to do it well,' she says. 'The rest took care of itself.' It all comes full circle as she reflects on the values that shaped her journey. 'I owe everything to my parents,' says Maheswari. 'They taught me to stand my ground, speak the truth, and always do what's right, no matter who's watching.'
Globe and Mail
7 days ago
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Mitek to Report Fiscal 2025 Third Quarter Financial Results on Aug. 7, 2025
Mitek Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: MITK), a global leader in digital identity verification and fraud prevention, today announced that it will release its financial results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2025, which ended June 30, 2025, after the U.S. market closes on Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. Mitek will host a conference call and live webcast to discuss the results at 2 p.m. PT (5 p.m. ET). Mitek CEO Ed West and CFO Dave Lyle will lead the call, followed by a Q&A session. Conference Call and Webcast Details Event: Mitek Fiscal 2025 Third Quarter Financial Results Date: Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025 Time: 2 p.m. PT (5 p.m. ET) Participants are encouraged to pre-register for the webcast by clicking here. Pre-registration is available before, during, and after the start time. Registered attendees will receive an online confirmation and a calendar invitation for the event. Those who are unable to pre-register can join the conference call/webcast by clicking the webcast link or using one of the dial-in numbers below: Webcast: Click here U.S. Toll-Free: +1 800 717 1738 International: +1 646 307 1865 Participants can use the guest dial-in numbers above to speak with an operator or click here for instant telephone access to the event 15 minutes prior to the event start time. Following the call, a dial-in replay will be available for one week. A webcast replay will remain accessible for one year at the link below or by using the dial-in numbers provided. Archived Webcast: U.S. Toll-Free Replay: +1 844 512 2921 International Replay: +1 412 317 6671 Replay Passcode: 1154629 The press release will be available on the Mitek investor relations website before the event begins. About Mitek Mitek Systems protects what's real across digital interactions in a world of evolving threats. Mitek helps businesses verify identities, prevent fraud before it happens, and deliver secure, seamless digital experiences in the face of rapidly advancing AI-generated threats. From account opening to authentication and deposit, Mitek's technology safeguards critical digital interactions. More than 7,000 organizations rely on Mitek to protect their most important customer connections and stay ahead of emerging risks. Learn more at [(MITK-F)]
