Today, Fico, a global analytics software provider, announced the latest release of the Fico Falcon Fraud Manager model for Retail Banking, which leverages machine learning to detect and prevent scams by adding a Scam Detection Score to Falcon Fraud Manager’s existing third-party fraud detection score for retail banking transfers.
“The proliferation of mobile payment apps and new open banking standards in the wake of the pandemic have caused authorized push payment (APP) scams to grow,” said Scott Zoldi, chief analytics officer, at FICO. “FICO has been following how the sophistication of scams are evolving at breakneck speed and we are strategically innovating to offer our clients in retail banking the cutting-edge scam detection analytics needed to combat today’s criminals.”
APP scams manipulate customers into sending money to an account controlled by scammers. They can take multiple forms, including mobile game payments, online purchases that never arrive, or text messages from someone the victim mistakenly believes is a friend, business partner or bank official. According to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), more than 350,000 Americans reported losing a total of more than $245 million to fraudulent online purchases in 2020, including a record high to scams that started on social media. In the UK, UK Finance reported a 5% increase in losses to such fraud in 2020 with reported losses of £479 million. These scams have proved particularly difficult to detect as the person initiating the payment is the legitimate account holder – who has been tricked into making the payment.
FICO’s new Scam Detection Score helps Falcon customers overcome the challenge of detecting authorized push payment (APP) scams, using the distinguishing characteristics revealed by the FICO® Falcon® Fraud Manager model for Retail Banking to identify 24 times the number of fraudulent transactions on favorite devices. While banks and card issuers today have used the Falcon Retail Banking fraud score to detect both fraud and scams, the new Scam Detection Score further detects 50% more scam transactions at a 0.5% transaction review rate.
FICO® Falcon® Fraud Manager enables fraud executives, financial crimes investigators, in-house data scientists, product leaders, and digital experience teams to collaborate on next-generation fraud strategies, while accelerating efficiency, operations, and innovation.