Amex deploys credit fraud AI detection for banking

The fraud models are designed to recognise odd behaviour or suspicious patterns of activity that are not typical of a particular customer. After kicking off a business checking account product in October 2021, followed by a consumer-aimed checking account in February 2022, Amex’s models already are picking up on an emerging trend.

Company officials stated that fraudsters show up quickly once you launch a new financial product. One of the patterns that they have seen starting to emerge is fraudsters attempting to take over a customer's profile and apply to open a checking account in their name so, identity theft.

Business checking accounts are attracting their own distinct fraud patterns. Amex’ representatives added that on the business side, they've seen more of the synthetic identity where fraudsters are attempting to open accounts with businesses that are either not real or they're just a front in an attempt to deposit fake checks and extract money that way.

Some companies are using machine- and deep-learning models to detect fraudulent behaviour by entities sanctioned by the US Treasury Department in relation to the war in Ukraine. Amex sources said they would not address the war in Ukraine or sanctioned entities in more general terms.

The Amex fraud detection models react and optimise automatically by adjusting how they weigh certain data points in the decision-making process, for instance. In the places it sees more fraud, it will be more aggressive. The company might weigh more heavily particular geographic regions, currencies or types of products associated with attempted transactions.