Data and Tech: The Dynamic Duo in the Fight Against Fraud and Financial Crime

Credit Awareness Week this year underscored the essential role of data and technology in navigating today’s market challenges and driving sustainable growth.  

The research indicated that British businesses are primarily concerned with rising costs (61%) and economic uncertainty (58%). To address these challenges over the next five years, businesses are focusing on personalising and enhancing the customer experience (49%), implementing technology (48%), and establishing strong data governance (28%).  

Interestingly, preventing fraud emerged as the fourth priority for businesses, with 26% also highlighting the importance of compliance with financial crime regulations. This isn’t surprising given last year’s Experian Fraud report that showed that 57% of businesses reported an increase in fraud losses in recent years.  

And the reality is that the fraud landscape is only going to continue to evolve rapidly due to rising cyber-attacks, technological advancements, and increasingly sophisticated scams.  

To address this challenge, the Experian Fraud Report revealed that 70% of businesses expect to increase their fraud management budgets.  

Consequently, many leaders face the critical decision of how to allocate these funds to effectively prevent fraud and financial crime while fostering business growth. Although there is no one-size-fits-all solution, reliable, comprehensive data and technology – as the Credit Awareness Week research highlighted – is a key part of any strategy.  

Data utilisation and sharing  

The strategic use of data is fundamental to effective fraud prevention and financial crime compliance. Data enables businesses to detect patterns, monitor activities in real-time, assess risks, and utilise predictive analytics. And this can all be tailored to a businesses’ specific needs and scale.  

For example, verifying identities through data can be as straightforward as ensuring phone numbers and email addresses are genuinely associated with the customer. On a more sophisticated level, behavioural biometrics – such as analysing device orientation, copy-pasting habits, or typing speed – can also help uncover fraudulent behaviour.  

What is going to be make the real difference in today’s market is collaboration, especially in ensuring efforts are both effective and resource efficient. The combined data and expertise from financial institutions, regulators, and third-party providers will be exceptionally powerful in combating fraud and financial crime.  

Take one type of a fraud as an example. ‘Plastic money mule’ fraud is a response to stricter controls on current accounts which exploits credit card transaction monitoring loopholes.  

Individual businesses often lack sufficient data to detect this activity. A single instance of overpaying debt and transferring money might not raise alarms, even if the customer repeats this across multiple credit cards.  

However, by pooling contextual data, we can more easily identify suspicious patterns and cross-provider crimes. This is especially important under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act.  

Starting in September, organisations without robust fraud and anti-money laundering protection processes will face penalties. One thing we must not forget, however, is the power of collaborative consumer education as well.  

Raising awareness about different types of fraud can truly empower people to protect themselves.  

Leveraging advanced technology

As AI becomes more accessible, it enables fraudsters to create convincing false documents, images, videos, and voices.  

Take Generative AI. It is helping fraudsters produce more convincing fake identity documents to bypass security screening.  

It is thought that the number of fake passports produced through GenAI could now exceed the number of digitally altered physical documents for the first time. In addition, synthetic fraud can be much harder to detect now.  

Unless someone regularly checks their credit record, or is the target of debt recovery action, they may never realise fraudulent accounts or lines of credit exist.  

This means businesses must fight tech with tech and also use advanced technology to better identify false identities and fraudulent activities. GenAI will significantly enhance fraud detection by identifying complex patterns and anomalies in real-time.  

Additionally, behavioural biometrics can significantly reduce false positives and enhance the accuracy of fraud detection systems.  

What specific frauds do businesses need to tackle in 2025?  

The Credit Awareness Week research showed only 23% of businesses feel confident in addressing threats posed by GenAI and deep fakes, closely followed by tackling synthetic ID fraud and biometric fraud.   

What we know is that organisations are under relentless pressure when it comes to preventing fraud and financial crime. A proactive and adaptive approach and doubling down on data and technology is essential to both stay ahead in this challenging environment and support long term sustainable growth.  

Time is of the essence, so businesses should act swiftly.