How AI Strengthens Fraud Detection in Loyalty Programs
- Published
- 3 min reading
Loyalty points may seem harmless, but to fraudsters, they’re digital currency. Easily transferable and often poorly protected, loyalty accounts are now being hacked, traded, and exploited at an alarming rate. And unlike financial fraud, loyalty fraud can often go undetected for weeks, giving criminals more time to cash in. The challenge is clear: brands need smarter, faster ways to detect and respond to suspicious activity without compromising the user experience—and AI is the key to making it happen.
Weak Points in Loyalty Program Security
Loyalty programs aren’t often built with fraud prevention in mind. Designed to delight and reward, not defend, these systems often lack the layers of security found in banking or payment platforms. Meanwhile, loyalty points have real-world value and can be sold or exchanged on the dark web with little risk of being traced.
The problem is compounded by the diverse nature of loyalty fraud itself. Programs are exposed to multiple threat types:
- External fraud: such as account takeovers and identity theft
- Internal fraud: committed by staff, administrators, or partners
- “Gaming” fraud: when users exploit loopholes in system rules or reward structures
Why Many Loyalty Programs Remain Unprotected
Many businesses have difficulties assigning a monetary value to the losses from loyalty fraud, making it hard to justify investment in proper safeguards or build dedicated prevention teams. Additionally, organizations are often hesitant to implement strict security measures—like multi-factor authentication on every login—because they don’t want to harm the user experience.
Of course, it’s easy to assume that if something suspicious happened, the customer would catch it right away. But that’s often not the case. Most users don’t view their loyalty accounts as high-risk, so they rarely monitor them closely or enable advanced security settings. Even more, they tend to use weak or reused passwords that make it even easier to take over their accounts, which can contain sensitive information, including financial data.
So if companies aren’t acting—and customers aren’t watching—who’s left to catch the fraudsters? That’s where AI steps in.
Smarter Fraud Detection with AI
To stay ahead of loyalty fraud, brands need more than detection—they need context, speed, and smart decision-making. And that’s exactly what MAIA, Comarch’s AI-powered assistant, offers.
MAIA is designed specifically for loyalty program environments. She doesn’t just flag anomalies, but understands the context, learns patterns, and supports your team in making fast, informed decisions.
Here’s how it works:
- Real-Time Monitoring: MAIA continuously scans for unusual patterns, from unexpected point redemptions and an increased number of transactions to suspicious account access.
- Alerts and Actionable Recommendations: When fraud is suspected, MAIA immediately alerts you, offering clear next steps, like blocking an account, storing the transactions, marking it as non-fraudulent, or creating a case for a manual review at the Contact Center.
- Built-In Decision Support: Rather than replacing human judgment, MAIA enhances it. The assistant works like a co-pilot, offering the data and tools you need to act, but leaving the final decision to you.
- Context-Aware Detection: By leveraging historical data, behavior analytics, and machine learning, MAIA distinguishes between anomalies and normal member activity, reducing false positives and unnecessary disruptions.
It’s a proactive approach to fraud that scales with your program, balances security with user experience, and saves valuable time for your team.
Stay One Step Ahead with MAIA
Loyalty fraud isn’t a future risk—it’s happening now. With billions lost annually and customer trust on the line, brands can no longer afford to treat it as a back-office issue. As fraudsters get smarter and more agile, so must your tools.
That’s why AI-powered solutions like MAIA are becoming essential. Rather than relying on rigid rules or slow manual processes, MAIA brings real-time intelligence, holistic monitoring, and actionable insights directly into your loyalty operations. It empowers your team to act quickly, confidently, and effectively, keeping your program safe without compromising customer experience.
Want to see how MAIA can protect your loyalty program? Learn more about our AI assistant and explore more features of Comarch’s Loyalty Marketing Platform.
