A ThreatMark Tool Gives Consumers a Role in Identifying Scams

As scams and fraud continue to wreak havoc on consumers and financial services companies, one fraud-prevention firm has released a service it says will help consumers better self-identify potential deceptive payment decisions.

ThreatMark released ScamFlag, a service banks can add to their mobile-banking apps to help give consumers more insight into potential scams.

Using a generative artificial-intelligence component, ScamFlag does not require a separate app download or complex setup, Charlotte, N.C.-based ThreatMark says. To use it, consumers open their mobile-banking app and take a screenshot or photo of the suspicious content, which can be from any digital channel. That image is then analyzed by ScamFlag, and the user receives an instant response with recommended actions. Banks use a software development kit to integrate ScamFlag, which can be fully white-labeled, into their apps.

The genAI agent is trained on a large number of scam samples and can identify suspicious text strings, deceptive language, and fake graphic artifacts in the images.

As an example, if a phishing email is submitted, ScamFlag will list the attributes that led to that classification, ThreatMark says. That could include unsolicited links, urgency in the message, whether the sender is known, or if the domain in the email is trusted. ThreatMark says ScamFlag identified 99% of the fraud thrown at it.

ScamFlag can identify marketplace scams, romance scams, investment fraud, fake merchant schemes, phishing attempts, and business email compromise immediately, ThreatMark says.

“While the industry focuses on identifying legitimate users, fraudsters have shifted to manipulating people directly through increasingly sophisticated social engineering,” Michal Tresner, ThreatMark founder and chief executive, says in a statement. “ScamFlag represents a fundamental shift in fraud prevention by putting powerful AI-based protection directly in the hands of banking customers, right within their trusted banking applications.”

ThreatMark’s pricing model for the service is based on the size of the client’s use base, with an annual licensing fee starting in the lower tens of thousands of dollars.

Competitor Feedzai released a similar service, ScamAlert, earlier this year.