MASTERCARD said it is now using generative AI to double the speed at which it can detect debit and credit cards that have been compromised by fraudsters seeking new ways to exploit technology.

Mastercard, a global technology firm in the payments industry, said the generative AI it is using to detect compromised cards on its network will enable banks to block them much faster than they were previously able to.

Fraudsters steal millions of payment card numbers through spyware, malware, and other clandestine practices such as card skimming. In a bid to sell this data to other criminals, they place part of the 16-digit numbers on illegal websites.

“Until now fraudsters may have thought they were operating in obscurity, seeking to launder the card details of millions of unsuspecting victims. Thanks to our world-leading cybertechnology we can now piece together the jigsaw – enhancing trust to banks, their customers and the digital ecosystem as a whole,” said Johan Gerber at Mastercard.

The new technology works by scanning transaction data across billions of cards and millions of merchants at faster rates than previously imaginable. In doing so it alerts Mastercard to new, complex fraud patterns. Using generative AI-based predictive technology built by Mastercard, it is able to protect future transactions against emerging threats, by doubling the detection rate of compromised cards, reducing false positives during the detection of fraudulent transactions against potentially compromised cards by up to 200 per cent, and increasing the speed of identifying merchants at-risk from — or compromised by — fraudsters by 300 per cent, according to a release from the company.

It said, as a result of these enhancements, it is able to alert banks more quickly and with greater accuracy when a card is likely to have been compromised. The card can then be blocked and reissued. Attempted transactions on the compromised card can be continuously monitored to mitigate fraud and enhance cybersecurity, further instilling trust.

This latest enhancement, leveraging cutting-edge generative AI techniques turbocharges Mastercard’s suite of security solutions. Cyber Secure, available since 2020, uses integrated technology to create a baseline of transparent cybersecurity information on bank and merchant online profiles in the payment ecosystem, including details of suspected compromised cards.