Global payments firm Mastercard has introduced a service that aims to aid issuers to pre-empt card and account fraud by providing an advance alert in the event of a heightened risk of fraudulent use.
According to the company, its Early Detection System utilises Mastercard network insights, predictive capabilities, and a combination of artificial intelligence and big data sources to assess whether a card or account is at risk.
It will then alert the financial service provider (FSP) with an assessment of the level of risk, at which stage the FSP will apply an appropriate action ranging from monitoring transactions more closely to proactively issuing a replacement card.
The paid subscription system has been designed to pre-empt a number of fraudulent activities, such as active criminal trading of account data, cards being tested prior to being used for fraud, as well as detection of account data that appears at risk but without sufficient evidence to declare an 'account data compromise' event.
Ajay Bhalla, president of enterprise risk and security at Mastercard, says: "Considering that not all compromised accounts will be used fraudulently, and a quick response time is crucial in these situations, this service helps issuers act significantly faster and with greater precision to stop potential fraud before it occurs. Providers can now proactively target the fraudulent activity resulting from previously breached or hacked data."
Bhalla adds that defrauded cards and accounts can be abused for anything between nine minutes and 18 months after a data breach.
Data released by the South African Banking Risk Information Centre (Sabric) in April shows there was an overall increase in card fraud for 2016, with credit card fraud increasing by 13% from R331.4 million in 2015 to R374.4 million in 2016, and debit card fraud increasing by 3.1% for the same period.
Sabric CEO Kalyani Pillay explains that during 2016, 48% of all credit card gross fraud losses occurred inside the borders of South Africa, with the most affected provinces being Gauteng, Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. These were followed by the Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga and the North-West province.
Pillay adds viable card fraud prevention measures are always welcome. "Our number one priority is to ensure the South African payment system remains safe, secure and relevant."
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