A Manhattan man was charged by federal prosecutors with fraudulently trying to obtain more than $20 million in government loans intended to aid small businesses affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are some examples of technology available now to help combat money launderers profiting from the pandemic.

First Data Merchant Services LLC and a former executive agreed to pay more than $40 million to settle a claim by the Federal Trade Commission that the company processed payments and laundered credit card transactions for scams targeting hundreds of thousands of consumers.

As many countries and U.S. states now begin to lift stay-at-home orders, fraudsters too are being unleashed to return to familiar targets such as bank branches, ATMs and retail stores.

Mobile's already responsible for more than half of online fraud, and that will get worse, says ClearSales's Bernardo Lustosa.

Getting rid of passwords is easier in concept than practice, with hundreds of initiatives designed to build something more digital, flexible and transportable. But none have taken hold, causing one developer to try an approach that rejects most of the prevailing methods.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are some examples of technology available now to help combat money launderers profiting from the pandemic.

Criminals developing EventBot malware built it to take advantage of businesses and humans turning to mobile banking and payments in the current coronavirus crisis — but also to update itself on the fly to become more insidious in the future.

The company, which develops "persona-based intelligence," software counts Visa and American Express among its clients.

Tokenization and buy buttons began, in part, as ways to calm the security concerns of online shoppers who were wary of moving away from plastic. They’re now becoming a way to keep a health and economic crisis from turning into a security problem as in-store checkout quickly gives way to apps and websites.

Even before the coronavirus outbreak, cybercriminals were shifting their attention away from point-of-sale terminals — but the retail industry still absorbs the most attacks seeking to compromise databases or networks.

Fraudsters are attempting to intercept stimulus checks, set up bogus charities and defraud applicants for unemployment benefits. Mike Litt, consumer campaign director of U.S. Public Interest Research Group, discusses what can be done to stop them.

Mortgage lenders impose steep pricing adjustments for cash-out refinancing; bankers fear massive borrower fraud in the Paycheck Protection Program; some worry the coronavirus is giving banks an excuse to spy on employees; and more from this week's most-read stories.

Up to 12% of loans under the $660 billion small-business rescue program could be tied to misleading or completely phony applications, fueling concerns about lenders' potential liability.

Large spikes in transactions and unusual payment amounts can be a response to the pandemic, not a sign of fraud, says Genpact's Manish Chopra.

Artificial intelligence-driven monitoring is an important tool to fight crime but it is not a total solution, and as bad actors develop their own AI capabilities, the battle will continue, says Authoriti's Michael Cutlip.

Bots can complete tedious tasks, such as validating customer information against standard databases, more quickly and accurately than people and free up staff for other parts of the payment crime fight, says Genpact's Manish Chopra.

Whether presented at the teller line or through digital channels, the best way to prevent fraud is by triangulating items in real-time against a robust fraud database. To strengthen the database, fraud data needs to be contributed in return, says Advance Fraud Solutions' Ted Kirk.

PSD2 and FIDO are among the efforts that could ease adoption for consumer use, says Fingerprints' Jonas Andersson.

There is no denying that the upgrade to EMV will reduce certain types of fraud by noticeable amounts, but there should be no illusion that this is a “silver bullet” to a growing fraud trend, says The ai Corporation's James Crawshaw.