Visa Protect:
AI-Powered Security for the Future of Payments
As the online economy grows, so does digital payment fraud. It’s a rising problem for eCommerce merchants and financial institutions alike.
With the recent introduction of generative AI (GenAI) tools, fraudsters are finding new ways to target their victims — and they are succeeding. Suspected digital fraud grew by a staggering 52.2% between 2019–2021, according to a recent report. Online payment fraud losses are expected to exceed $343B globally between 2023–2027.
The Growth of AI-Powered Fraud
Today’s scammers use GenAI to create millions of possible account number combinations and quickly test them for online transactions, a method called enumeration, or brute force attacks. Every year, enumeration inflicts an estimated $1.1B billion in fraud losses.
Fraudsters also use AI to create deepfakes — such as audio or video that mimic the voice and appearance of real people — to trick victims into making payments. “If it looks and sounds like someone I know, I’m going to be inclined to agree to the scammer’s request,” says James Mirfin, Global Head of Risk and Identity Solutions, Visa Protect. “They’re using old tricks with new tools. In the wrong hands, GenAI allows criminals to work faster and be more successful.”
The Reuters news staff had no role in the production of this content. It was created by Reuters Plus, the brand marketing studio of Reuters.
Produced by Reuters Plus for
Disclaimer: The Reuters news staff had no role in the production of this content. It was created by Reuters Plus, the brand marketing studio of Reuters. To work with Reuters Plus, contact us here.
Visa Protect: AI-Powered Risk Mitigation
As a leader in the AI space for the past three decades, Visa is fighting hard against the rising tide of digital payment fraud. In 2023 alone, the company helped block $40 billion in fraud — nearly double the amount from the previous year. Visa Protect, a suite of innovative risk solutions, helps consumers, merchants, and financial institutions protect digital transactions from start to end. “Securing payments is our top priority,” Mirfin says. “If you don’t have a secure payment system, all the other value falls down very quickly.
AI and machine learning provide the bedrock of Visa’s payment security strategy. Automation and data analytics tools allow the company to analyze billions of transactions in real-time annually and identify anomalies and patterns that may indicate fraudulent activity. “There’s huge value in the models Visa has because of the size of our network and how quickly we can detect emerging types of fraud and identify high-risk transactions,” says Mirfin. That agility empowers merchants to walk the fine line between smoothing the payment experience and managing fraud.
For example, Visa Provisioning Intelligence uses AI to rate the likelihood of fraud for token provisioning requests, helping banks protect consumers’ account information and prevent fraud in a targeted way. The product generates a real-time fraud propensity score when a request is received, allowing the financial institution to decide whether to accept or decline. Expanding its transaction fraud capabilities beyond Visa card payments, Visa Advanced Authorization and Visa Risk Manager allow financial institutions to use a single fraud detection solution in various regions to cover both Visa and non-Visa card transactions.
Protection Beyond the Visa Network
The continued proliferation of payment technologies means consumers have more ways to pay than ever before – but unfortunately, not every digital payment method is as secure as using a chip card in person. Account-to-account payment services allow consumers to make direct digital transfers from their bank account, and the method’s popularity is growing. By 2028, account-to-account payments are expected to reach $58 trillion in transactions globally. “Many people think it’s a digital payment with similar protection as when they pay with a card, but that’s just not true,” says Mirfin. “Fraud losses on account-to-account networks are huge — an estimated $10 billion in the US for 2023 alone.”
To combat the rising tide of account-to-account payment fraud, Visa Protect for Account-to-Account Payments takes the AI-powered fraud detection model Visa uses on its network and applies it to flag potentially high-risk transactions elsewhere. Pay.UK, a real-time account-to-account payment network, worked with Visa in a recent pilot project to test the performance of Visa Protect for Account-to-Account Payments. “We were able to demonstrate that we could have stopped 54 percent — or £330 million — of the fraud they experienced during 2023,” Mirfin says. “It’s a great example of the potential to reduce risk.”
The Future: High Security, Low Friction Payments
Today’s consumers are looking for simple, frictionless payment experiences — but making digital payment too quick and easy can increase risks. “The faster the money moves, the faster the fraud moves,” says Mirfin, “and the criminals know it.”
Innovators at Visa are constantly looking for ways to apply technology to this problem, making it easy for consumers to transact securely. Built on Fast Identity Online (FIDO) standards, Visa Payment Passkeys seek to do that by combining digital credentials with a card number and a biometric scan, such as a face or fingerprint. “Binding the three of those makes it easier for a merchant to provide high-security, low-friction transactions,” Mirfin says. “Payment passkeys are a great enabler of the streamlined experience customers want.”
While AI tools hold out great promise for mitigating fraud risk, they are only effective when human stakeholders share information and work together. “To reduce digital fraud, we need more collaboration between consumers, financial institutions, merchants, banks, payment methods, and law enforcement,” says Mirfin. “There’s nothing the criminals would like more than to think we don’t talk to each other.” With Visa Protect, merchants and issuers can tap into that collaboration with real-time support and AI-driven insights informed by a massive data set.
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Today’s consumers are looking for simple, frictionless payment experiences — but making digital payment too quick and easy can increase risks.
consumers have more ways to pay than ever before — but unfortunately, not every digital payment method is as secure as using a credit card.
Fraudsters also use AI to create deepfakes — such as audio or video that mimic the voice and appearance of real people — to trick victims into making payments.
James Mirfin
Global Head of Risk and Identity Solutions,
Visa Protect
If it looks and sounds like someone I know, I’m going to be inclined to agree to the scammer’s request. They’re using old tricks with new tools.
The Reuters news staff had no role in the production of this content. It was created by Reuters Plus, the brand marketing studio of Reuters.
Produced by Reuters Plus for
Disclaimer: The Reuters news staff had no role in the production of this content. It was created by Reuters Plus, the brand marketing studio of Reuters. To work with Reuters Plus, contact us here.
To combat the rising tide of account-to-account payment fraud, Visa Protect for Account-to-Account Payments takes the AI-powered fraud detection model Visa uses on its network and applies it to flag potentially high-risk transactions elsewhere. Pay.UK, a real-time account-to-account payment network, worked with Visa in a recent pilot project to test the performance of Visa Protect for Account-to-Account Payments. “We were able to demonstrate that we could have stopped 54 percent — or £330 million — of the fraud they experienced during 2023,” Mirfin says. “It’s a great example of the potential to reduce risk.”
Fraudsters also use AI to create deepfakes — such as audio or video that mimic the voice and appearance of real people — to trick victims into making payments. “If it looks and sounds like someone I know, I’m going to be inclined to agree to the scammer’s request,” says James Mirfin, Global Head of Risk and Identity Solutions, Visa Protect. “They’re using old tricks with new tools. In the wrong hands, GenAI allows criminals to work faster and be more successful.