2020 was a difficult and strange year for many reasons. The Covid-19 pandemic sent economies into spirals, nations into lockdowns and people into their homes. In an attempt to keep ourselves and those we love safe, 2020 saw an explosion in online transactions and digital financial management.
Our computers, cell phones and cards have been replacing in-person and cash purchases more and more. With the huge digital shift that occurred last year, it is important to consider how banks and card issuers are keeping our accounts secure and preventing fraudulent transactions with digital protections that are usually invisible to us.
All transactions go through fraud prevention protocols
Hundreds-of-billions of card and online payment transactions are made around the world every year. Each one of those transactions will be scanned and assessed by intelligent software that is designed to detect and prevent fraud in a matter of milliseconds. FICO, for example, manages to assess millions of transactions daily; preventing fraud and remaining invisible during all legitimate payments.
FICO’s Falcon is the premier digital fraud prevention platform which is being used by most of the world’s leading banks. The Falcon Platform protects over two-thirds of all global credit and debit card transactions from succumbing to various types of fraudulent payments or theft. This software is credited for saving organisations well over a trillion rand in potential fraudulent schemes every year around the world.
With over eighty fraud-focused digital protection and analytic tools patented by FICO, Falcon has become the leading fraud prevention software on the market; and for good reason. Falcon Platform uses FICO’s decades of experience in data analytics development to build on their pioneering AI and machine learning technologies. These tools are becoming smarter at detecting (and better at preventing) fraud every year.
Not to mention, the thousands of brilliant and capable fraud prevention teams that dedicate themselves to improving these cutting-edge technologies and focusing on individual customer claims and assessing changing fraud patterns in the industry.
Staying ahead of fraudsters and financial criminal trends
Falcon Platform and all fraud prevention services should be focused on the customer’s financial wellbeing. Stopping criminals is an important second priority to keeping consumer’s and their accounts secure. Huge quantities of anonymous transaction data are used to strengthen the reliability and efficiency of the smart software.
The Falcon Platform leverage these huge sums of data to create a fraud prevention system that really works, even amidst the increased online transactional traffic during the pandemic. They can identify and follow the criminal patterns of these fraudsters, from common devices used to heavily-trafficked online stores. It learns what is normal and consistent for any anonymous consumer data it follows and something unusual will be flagged immediately.
Banks and other financial institutions across the globe use fraud detection and prevention software, like FICO’s Falcon, to quickly identify where and when fraudulent transactions originate and prevent clusters of financial criminality before they occur. By automatically informing the banks, online payment services or the individual customer, they are more readily able to take action and stop these fraudsters in their tracks. It can actually stop fraud in the middle of a questionable transaction with this level of detection.
Keeping banks and their consumers in the know
As consumers, we like to know how our banks and online payment services are keeping our card and account information secure and our payments intentional. When polled, most consumers say that we are fine with fraud prevention services and banks keeping anonymous account data to ensure our financial safety. Most banks will routinely confirm or validate purchases directly with their customers if the transaction is in any way questionable.
Engaging with your bank’s customer protection services, such as emails, text and mobile app notifications, about potentially fraudulent activity can help them identify financial criminality more easily in the future. As well as this, by adding your input to these services they are able to add to the growing database of personally and digitally gathered transactional information to create a stronger and more reliable monitoring process.
Banks need our participation
The inevitable acceleration of digital monetary practices during the pandemic beginning in 2020, means that: mobile banking apps, online shopping, digital payment platforms and tap-and-go card services are all being used more frequently. Africa, and South Africa, have seen a particularly big upward trend in the use of mobile banking apps.
In addition to the incredibly convenient and socially-distanced benefits of these services, there is an unfortunate risk that comes with spending your money online. Fraudsters are more confident thieves from the perceived safety of their homes. To help stop these criminals, consider utilising in-app alert notifications and allow for anonymous data reading to help your bank – and the fraud prevention services they employ – do their job more effectively.
If you are looking to ensure you or your business’s financial security, speak to our consultants at MarisIT, where we have a range of products and services to help make your finances more secure.
