PayPal introduces AI-powered scam alerts
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Designed to proactively alert customers to potential scams and prevent losses in real-time, the alerts intervene when it matters most – before any funds are sent. As scammers attempt to coerce people into sending payments that may not be eligible for refunds, including scams that originate on social media, we believe putting more information directly into customers' hands will empower them to help stop scams in their tracks.
As trusted leaders in efforts to prevent fraud, PayPal is proud of our initiative to combat the ever-changing tactics of scammers. We do not tolerate scams and work hard to protect our customers, including shutting down fraudulent accounts and blocking suspicious activity. Our approach to addressing fraud is multi-pronged, comprised of building innovative technologies, leveraging investigative research led by our team of experts, and refining our risk controls to help prevent bad actors from accessing our platforms. Given fraudsters frequently change their methods to try to evade detection, staying ahead of the latest trends and continually enhancing our tools are critical aspects of our efforts.
When building PayPal's dynamic alert system, we focused on both effective fraud mitigation strategies as well as enhancing the user experience. The alerts pop up when the system detects a potential scam, sharing critical and relevant information about the likelihood of fraud right at the point of payment. To help stay ahead of the curve, the alerts learn and adapt to evolving scam tactics. PayPal's system leverages continually learning AI models that quickly analyze billions of data points and update when patterns change. This means our system can help more quickly detect a potential new scam, even if we have never seen that specific scam before.
Unlike traditional, one-size-fits-all static warnings, PayPal's alerts are dynamic and tailored to be shown based on the likelihood of fraud for each transaction. The system shares messages that appropriately reflect the risk level of the payment customers are trying to make. It also sends progressively stricter alerts as its confidence that a scam exists grows and adds more friction into completing payments for higher-risk scenarios. We continue to automatically decline payments that we detect as highly risky.
The alerts are live in all global markets in which PayPal operates, and across the U.S. on Venmo.
For any questions, our PayPal and Venmo Customer Support teams are always available to help. Learn more about PayPal's fraud prevention efforts and our educational tips to spot and avoid scams on the PayPal Security Center.
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Daily Mail
4 hours ago
- Daily Mail
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The Guardian
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Knowing this, manipulators present only the most attractive aspect of a transaction and downplay other, less inviting parts. So, manipulation is all around us, and rarely punished. But if we aim to create a right not to be manipulated, we will have to specify what we are talking about. A moral right can define manipulation broadly. A legal right should focus on the worst cases – the most egregious forms of trickery, those that are hardest to justify and that are most likely to impose real harm. Those worst cases occur when people are not given clarity that they are committing themselves to certain terms – and when the terms are ones they wouldn't consent to if they had full knowledge. For example, there should be a prohibition on billing people in accordance with terms to which they did not actively agree, unless it is clear that they would have agreed if they'd been asked. The underlying principle should be one of personal autonomy, which means that hidden fees and costs should be banned too. We know that rules designed to bring those fees and costs into the open can do a great deal of good. A couple of recent examples from the US: in 2024, the Department of Transportation created a rule that requires airlines and ticket agents to disclose charges for checked baggage, carry-on baggage, changing or cancelling a reservation and so on up front. Also in 2024, the Federal Communications Commission required internet service providers to display standardized 'broadband nutrition labels'. These include details of pricing, data allowances and broadband speeds, and enable customers to compare providers' offerings like-for-like, without tricks and obfuscation. But consumer protection is only the start. In 1890, two lawyers, Samuel Warren and Louis Brandeis, proposed a new right: the right to privacy. They were not entirely clear about its contents, but the bedrock was the 'right to be let alone'. Warren and Brandeis's thinking helped to launch a thousand ships, including rules against the disclosure of private facts, against surveillance, and around personal choices (including the right to same-sex marriage). The right not to be manipulated now is a lot like the right to privacy back in 1890. At this stage, we cannot identify the full scope, and the appropriate limits, of that new right. The protection of consumers and investors is urgent. How it might apply to politics is a more delicate matter, and lawmakers will need to tread cautiously there. One thing is clear, though: manipulation is a threat to our autonomy, our freedom and our wellbeing. We ought to be taking steps to fight back. Professor Cass R Sunstein is the co-author of Nudge and founder and director of the Program on Behavioral Economics and Public Policy at Harvard. His new book, Manipulation: What It Is, Why It's Bad, What to Do About It, will be published by Cambridge in August (£22). To support the Guardian order your copy at Delivery charges may apply. Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman (Penguin, £14.99) Misbehaving by Richard H Thaler (Penguin, £10.99) The Psychology of Money Morgan Housel (Harriman House, £16.99)
