ACI tackles ‘faster fraud’ with anti-fraud detection network launch

The news: Payments technology firm ACI Worldwide unveiled Network Intelligence Technology, which lets banks and payment providers share fraud data with other industry players, per a press release.

Here’s how it works: Combined with proprietary fraud detection solutions, companies can use the network to strengthen their anti-fraud machine learning technology to detect faster and real-time payments fraud. Network users can also integrate third-party fraud data.

Why it’s worth watching: Total card payments fraud losses hit $11.36 billion in the US last year, per Insider Intelligence forecasts—a figure we project will grow 10.6% this year.

Coronavirus-related scams and the rise in ecommerce are two major factors that contributed to fraud losses in the last year. But fraud stretches beyond just cards: The development of faster payment systems has opened the floodgates to proverbial “faster fraud,” letting bad actors gain quicker access to stolen funds and drain accounts faster than using traditional payment systems.

Here are two ways this has taken shape:

• Authorized push payments (APP) scams occur when fraudsters deceive customers into sending them bank payments. Fraudsters can then hide their tracks by transferring funds through fake bank accounts. Because the process is facilitated using faster payment systems, it's often hard for customers to regain lost funds when (or if) they realize they’ve been scammed.
• Account takeover via social engineering involves tricking customers into sharing information—whether personal identification information or account details—that they can use to access bank accounts and initiate illicit transactions.

Why this could succeed: ACI Worldwide’s Network Intelligence Technology can appeal to financial institutions (FIs) looking for a simple solution to solve the growing fraud problem. The offering helps FIs avoid costly fraud losses and can increase customer trust in them—which helps ACI earn new business and strengthen client relationships.

Related content: Check out our “Payments Ecosystem” report to learn more about tactics and innovations that payment providers are adopting to fight fraud.