Visa says it is acquiring payments protection technology firm\u00a0Featurespace\u00a0\u00a0to boost its anti-fraud capabilities.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince its inception out of Cambridge University\u2019s engineering department, Featurespace has developed innovative algorithmic-based solutions to analyze transaction data and detect even the most elusive fraud cases,\u201d<\/i><\/em>\u00a0the payments giant said in a\u00a0news release\u00a0Thursday (Sept. 26).<\/p>\n The company did not provide a cost for the acquisition, though a report last month suggested a\u00a0price tag of $925 million. The transaction is expected to close during fiscal year 2025.<\/p>\n According to Visa, the two firms\u2019 combined expertise will allow clients to manage fraud in real-time and protect payments with artificial intelligence (AI)-powered solutions.<\/p>\n \u201cProviding our clients with solutions that can adapt to and anticipate the changing threat landscape is of the utmost importance,\u201d said Antony Cahill, Visa\u2019s head of value-added services. \u201cFeaturespace\u2019s strong foundation in AI will enhance our existing product portfolio and enable us to address our clients\u2019 most complex and pressing challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n Featurespace Chief Operating Officer\u00a0Tim Vanderham\u00a0spoke with PYMNTS\u2019 Karen Webster last month, noting that \u201cwhen you think about the billions and billions of dollars that come from scams globally,\u201d the money made from illicit gains\u00a0dwarfs the revenues\u00a0of some of the biggest businesses on the planet.<\/p>\n That interview came in the wake of a Wall Street Journal article on the rise of \u201cscam dens,\u201d which function essentially as business centers with sophisticated setups, complete with separate departments for training fraudsters, \u201conboarding\u201d unwitting victims and KPIs used to conclude whether or not certain scams are working.<\/p>\n \u201cAlong the way, fraudsters are proving adept at using artificial intelligence to develop relationships and trust on the part of their victims, preying on human emotions and making off with individuals\u2019 life savings and retirement holdings, draining their bank accounts with brazen speed, notably through\u00a0authorized push payments,\u201d PYMNTS wrote.<\/p>\n Vanderham argued that the $2.7 billion in fraud reported in the U.S. just a few years ago represents just a fraction of the true tally \u2014 mainly because people are embarrassed to report that they\u2019ve fallen prey to scams.<\/p>\n And the banks and service providers tasked with battling fraudsters face their challenge when it comes to\u00a0using AI to fight AI.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re not bound by the same criteria when it comes to leveraging AI and machine learning,\u201d Vanderham said.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Visa says it is acquiring payments protection technology firm\u00a0Featurespace\u00a0\u00a0to boost its anti-fraud capabilities. \u201cSince its inception out of Cambridge University\u2019s engineering department, Featurespace has developed innovative algorithmic-based solutions to analyze transaction data and detect even the most elusive fraud cases,\u201d\u00a0the payments giant said in a\u00a0news release\u00a0Thursday (Sept. 26). The company did not provide a cost […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":50007,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[173,249],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-world-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50006"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50006\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50008,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50006\/revisions\/50008"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}