How Banks Use Machine Learning to Know a Crook's Using Your Credit Card Details

You're sitting at home minding your own business when you get a call from your credit card's fraud detection unit asking if you've just made a purchase at a department store in your city. It wasn't you who bought expensive electronics using your credit card – in fact, it's been in your pocket all afternoon. So how did the bank know to flag this single purchase as most likely fraudulent? Credit card companies have a vested interest in identifying financial transactions that are illegitimate and criminal in nature. According to the Federal Reserve Payments Study, Americans used credit cards to pay for 26.2 billion purchases in 2012.