One of the biggest credit card companies is quietly introducing a secret AI weapon to combat billion-dollar financial fraud — Visa will verify every single transaction in real time to eliminate rampant enumeration attacks

Facing frequent and damaging enumeration attacks, Visa has announced the launch of an AI-powered tool embedded in its updated Visa Account Attack Intelligence (VAAI) system.

The new VAAI Score tool is designed to tackle costly financial frauds that are inflicting around $1.1 billion annually in losses and operational costs to the global financial industry.

Enumeration attacks are where fraudsters apply sophisticated technologies like botnets and automated scripts to test and exploit vulnerabilities. It’s a fast-paced, major fraudulent practice requiring urgent countermeasures.

85% fewer false positives

Paul Fabara, Chief Risk and Client Services Officer at Visa, explains, “Enumeration can have lasting impacts on our clients and there’s an immediate need for tools that can better detect and prevent these attacks in real-time. With the VAAI Score, our clients now have access to real-time risk scoring that can help detect the likelihood of an enumeration attack so issuers can make more informed decisions on when to block a transaction.”

Visa’s analysis reveals that 33% of enumerated accounts typically experience fraud within five days of an attacker gaining access to their payment information. The advanced VAAI Score uses AI to distinguish normal and abnormal transaction patterns in real-time, with the aim of stopping and mitigating these attacks.

Visa’s new AI model reportedly trains on “noisy data” to predict complex enumeration attacks, and assigns each transaction a risk score in real-time for a faster response. Visa claims the tool has delivered an 85% reduction rate in false positive cases compared to other risk models.

“With access to advanced technology, fraudsters are monetizing stolen credentials faster than ever before,” said Michael Jabbara, SVP Global Head of Fraud Services, at Visa. “Enumerated transactions impact the entire ecosystem, and with the VAAI Score, we’re giving our clients a sophisticated tool that can help prevent cardholder accounts from being compromised and stop fraudulent transactions before they happen.”

VAAI Score will roll out initially to US issuers, with other territories to follow.