Machine Learning: Is it the Next-Gen Weapon in the Fraud Arms Race?

The card payments industry is in an ongoing and eternal battle with fraudsters. As financial institutions take steps to close off one avenue to the swindlers, new techniques to cheat the system are uncovered – and so the game of cat-and-mouse goes on. The fraudsters get smarter and arm themselves with increasingly advanced tools while the banks play endless catch-up. In the digital age, computer processing power cuts both ways: it assists banks in their analysis and detection of fraud, but it also opens up new avenues to cheat and steal. The big difference between the warring parties is that the fraudsters move and evolve in real time, whereas fraud mitigation and prevention is typically response-driven.