Visa: AI Helped Block 85% More Fraud on Cyber Monday

Visa’s artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning capabilities enabled it to block 85% more suspected fraud globally on Cyber Monday compared to a year earlier.

It did so at a time when suspected fraudulent transactions at physical and digital stores rose by 200%, due in part to fraudsters’ use of AI, the payments technology company said in a Tuesday (Dec. 17) press release.

“Although crooks are using AI more and more, so are we. And that’s paying off,” Paul Fabara, chief risk and client services officer at Visa, said in the release. “As we saw during the kickoff to the holiday shopping season, Visa continues to thwart more attempts at fraud from these bad actors, continuing our mission to be the safest way to pay and be paid for everyone, everywhere.”

Visa has invested $11 billion in fraud prevention technology over the past five years, according to the release.

Earlier this year, the company launched the Visa Account Attack Intelligence Score, a tool that leverages generative AI to stop fraud before it happens, anywhere the shopping is taking place, the release said.

When announcing the addition of the VAAI Score tool to the Visa Account Attack Intelligence in May, the company said this tool is designed to help issuers combat enumeration attacks — attacks in which threat actors use automated scripts, bot nets and other technologies to amplify their card testing attacks.

“With the VAAI Score, our clients now have access to real-time risk scoring that can help detect the likelihood of an enumeration attack so issuers can make more informed decisions on when to block a transaction,” Fabara said in a May 7 press release.

Financial institutions that use artificial intelligence and machine learning to mitigate fraud are seeing steep declines in common forms of fraud, according to the PYMNTS Intelligence and Hawk collaboration, “Leveraging AI and ML to Thwart Scammers.”

The report found that these financial institutions were 17% less likely to report experiencing tech support impersonation and IRS impostor scams than financial institutions relying solely on more traditional fraud prevention tools.

Visa said in July that its investments in AI and other technology enabled it to block 80 million fraudulent transactions worth $40 billion in 2023.