07/22/2025

Visa and Featurespace Take Fraud Fight to New Arena

PYMNTS

In today’s war against financial fraud, the battlefield is evolving faster than ever, as artificial intelligence (AI) fuels both sides and the adversaries become increasingly sophisticated.

That’s why PYMNTS called on Visa DPS GM, Risk Products and Solutions Dustin White and Featurespace Chief Operating Officer Tim Vanderham to unpack how payments leaders are answering back with a pioneering approach grounded in behavioral analytics and collaborative innovation.

“It’s not about just stopping fraud that happened yesterday,” White said. “The real question is, are you prepared to stop the fraud that’s coming tomorrow?”

Fraud detection has long relied on rule-based systems that flag “bad” activity after it happens. While these systems have historically been useful, it’s becoming clear that they are no match for the generative AI-fueled tactics now used by cybercriminals like social engineering, synthetic identity theft and deepfake scams.

The new goal is to stop fraud before the transaction is even attempted.

“We’re not just looking at transactions,” Featurespace’s Vanderham said. “We’re looking at logins, payee data and behavioral metadata. The fraud event is often the final act in a longer play.”