Mastercard leverages artificial intelligence (AI) widely, focusing on fraud detection, and personalised notification. With $143 billion in annual transactions, Mastercard relies on AI to enable real-time, network-wide fraud prevention. Personalisation tools drive customer insights and loyalty, enhancing security and relevance. Mastercard’s AI-driven cybersecurity efforts, including the acquisition of Recorded Future for threat intelligence and the launch of the Payment Passkey Service for secure biometric authentication, strengthen network security through continuous monitoring, building trust in the connected payments ecosystem.

“What’s really important is that we're trying to build tools and make services available to our partners to ensure that they're able to monitor real-time their cyber posture,” said Driver.

Mastercard leverages its real-time payments expertise to combat fraud in account-to-account transactions. Using AI-driven scoring, Mastercard injects security scores into each authorisation message, enabling banks to assess risks almost instantly and prevent fraud in real-time. "This system has already shown results, with a 17% reduction in scam volume and a 21% reduction in scam value in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2023 compared to 2022, where major banks use these scores as part of their anti-fraud strategies," he added.

Driver believes that effective fraud prevention requires two key elements: consumer education and cross-industry collaboration. Education builds awareness, particularly when leveraging generative AI to deliver insights in multiple dialects and on accessible devices. Additionally, collaboration across sectors—social networks, telcos, banks, and law enforcement—is essential, as fraudsters exploit fragmented systems to operate undetected.

Mastercard advocates secure, governed information sharing within a legislative framework, positioning fraud prevention as a global, multi-stakeholder effort to stay ahead of increasingly sophisticated scams.