Mastercard has partnered with nine UK banks to help them predict and prevent payment scams with its new AI tool.

Banks the payments processor has so far partnered with include Lloyds Bank, TSB, Monzo, Bank of Scotland, Halifax, and NatWest.

The Consumer Fraud Risk tool uses large-scale payments data to help identify real time payment scams before funds leave a target’s account.

Mastercard said that fraudsters are increasingly deploying impersonation tactics to steal funds, with figures from Global Data suggesting that push payment fraud now accounts for 40 per cent of UK bank fraud losses. This type of fraud is estimated to cost $4.6 billion in the US and UK alone by 2026.

“Using the latest AI technology, we are helping banks identify and predict which payments are being made to fraudsters and stop them in real-time,” said Ajay Bhalla, president of cyber and intelligence at Mastercard.

TSB was one of the first banks to adopt the tool and is reportedly already using it “to great effect”.

In just 4 months, TSB said it had “dramatically” increased its fraud detection, with the bank concluding that by using the tool, the amount of scam payments prevented over a year would equate to almost £100 million.

“Spotting fraudulent payments among millions made every day is like finding a needle in a haystack, with scams becoming ever more complex – so prevention and monitoring tools are key,” commented Paul Davis, director of fraud prevention at TSB.

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