In olden days, you had to keep your eyes and ears open to spot fraud attempts in a poker game. Collusion has been a common menace in games like Texas Holdem poker, often done through body language, hand signals, sounds and gestures, etc. But in online real-money games, your eyes and ears are not enough.
In online games, the cheat codes have become more sophisticated. So, it was natural for gaming platforms to start using sophisticated counter-fraud mechanisms to detect and prevent fraud. Fraud detection mechanisms need to be constantly updated to cope with new fraud techniques. So, it was only a matter of time before the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) was explored.
AI to Tackle Fraud in General
Earlier this year, Amazon Web Services confirmed the development of a user behaviour analysis tool using AI. This was specifically designed keeping the needs of the gaming companies in mind. Amazon has observed that by using it and other fraud protection indicators, fraud detection can improve by 27%.
Gaming giant Nvidia entered into a partnership with European neobank Bunq to use generative AI for fraud detection and countering financial frauds. Nvidia will use its accelerated computing technology to detect fraudulent activities and tackle serious offences like money laundering. For Bunq, Nvidia’s enterprise software platform, the RAPIDs suite, has been a hundred times more effective than previous fraud detection models.
These types of ventures and system developments are already beginning to show results in the gaming industry. A predictive AI tool has been able to predict fraudulent behaviour in gaming with a precision of 84.2%. It is a real-time prescriptive solution that uses explainable AI and machine learning algorithms.
The importance of AI fraud detection systems can be understood from the complex nature of fraudulent practices that take place within and around the gaming ecosystem.
The Complexity of Gaming Frauds
AI-powered fraud detection systems use high-speed algorithms that analyse huge volumes of data in real time. These systems can identify trends and anomalies by studying customer behaviour and transactions. These are not only carried out retrospectively but even for an ongoing game.
The fact that AI is used in gaming frauds indicates that these frauds are too complex for traditional systems. Scammers often open multiple accounts, which they then use to rig games and collect multiple gaming bonuses. While rigging a game is a risk in itself, abusing bonuses causes financial damage to the gaming platform.
These so-called synthetic players contaminate data, making it difficult for platforms to spot real fraud patterns. The use of bots ends up skewing results, particularly in small player pools in games like Texas Holdem poker.
Off-game fraudulent practices disrupt marketing plans by driving cheap traffic to gaming sites. Fraudsters also use stolen credit cards in gaming platforms. This leads to disputes by the legitimate cardholders, resulting in chargeback fees.
Gaming platforms must also ensure that no malpractices are being used to compromise the randomness of the games and that there is no bot involvement. Poker game Pocket52, for instance, uses a cryptographically secure random number generator to ensure fair play. It is internationally certified for its unbiasedness in gameplay.
To tackle these menaces, AI fraud detection tools deploy various measures in the background.
How AI Fraud Detection Helps
The first advantage that AI tools provide is the capability to collect and process a humongous volume of data. It sources transactional and behavioural data, which are analysed through feature engineering processes that flag fraudulent patterns.
These tools also use historical data to train their integrated machine-learning models on fraud recognition. Statistical techniques keep running in the background to spot anomalies that stand out from standard patterns.
AI fraud detection tools can now detect frauds like misuse of stolen cards, manipulation of game assets, inconsistencies in transaction velocity and so on. From the adaptive behavioural analytics of Featurespace to the real-time fraud prevention by SAS Fraud Management, many tools have been developed to address these issues.
A Must-Have for Game Protection
The use of AI anti-fraud tools is crucial to tackle the complexities of fraud in the gaming industry. It is monitoring transactions 24X7, ensuring that frauds are detected and handled as they happen. The fast execution results in millions of savings from potential losses.
Being fully automated also means there is no manual dependency when it comes to scalability. The growth of the business is not a hindrance to the operational efficiency of these tools. For gaming platforms, AI tools are providing a more accurate and faster mechanism against fraud detection. With this, they earn the valuable trust of the real-money gamers.
Safe Gaming Ahead
As platforms continue to invest more in AI-powered tools, gamers will enjoy a level playing field in the online gaming ecosystem. While bad elements will always remain, gamers can now enjoy their games knowing that state-of-the-art anti-fraud mechanisms stand in their support.
