From the team
Fraud Intelligence.
Research, intercept analysis, and practitioner notes from the AVIEL team. We write about APP fraud mechanics, PSP liability under FCA Consumer Duty, RIPA 2000 interception law, and the technical gap between transaction monitoring and the conversation layer where scams happen.
Real-Time Scammer Adaptation in the LLM Era: What Fraud Teams Need to Know
Scammers using LLM-generated scripts adapt faster to intervention signals than human-scripted operators. The detection challenge has shifted from pattern recognition to behavioural-intent modelling.
PSR Mandatory Reimbursement at Six Months: What the Data Shows
The Payment Systems Regulator mandatory reimbursement rule took effect October 2025. Six months of operational data reveals who's absorbing the losses — and which PSPs saw fraud rates actually decline.
Honeybot Deployment Patterns for Enterprise PSPs: What We've Learned
After twelve months in production with three mid-market PSPs, here's what we know about honeybot placement, conversation latency budgets, and false-positive suppression at scale.
Romance Scams Hit £300M in APP Losses — Where Payment Interception Makes the Difference
Romance-driven APP fraud now ranks second behind investment scams by total value. The conversation window is longer — which means the interception opportunity is larger too.
Open Banking, PSD2, and the APP Fraud Gap PSPs Haven't Closed
PSD2 strong customer authentication reduced card fraud. It did nothing for APP fraud — because the customer authorises the transfer. The gap is in the conversation, not the credential.
AI in Fraud Ops: What's Hype and What Actually Works in 2025
ML models for transaction scoring? Yes. Generative AI for scammer conversation simulation? Harder than vendors admit. Here's our honest take from the field.
Sharing Fraud Intelligence Between PSPs: UK GDPR Constraints and Paths Forward
Can two PSPs share scammer fingerprint data to prevent repeat-attempt fraud? Yes — with the right DPA, consent model, and data minimisation approach.
How Digital Banks Are Reducing APP Chargeback Exposure in 2025
The shift from post-transfer recovery to pre-transfer interception is happening now. What the forward-thinking digital banks are doing differently.
RIPA 2000 and PSP Interception: A Plain-English Guide for Fraud Teams
Honeybots intercept conversations. Is that legal under UK law? Yes — at the PSP's instruction and under specific RIPA 2000 provisions. Here's the framework.
The Conversation Layer: The Fraud Signal Your Stack Is Missing
Transaction monitoring sees numbers. Behavioral analytics sees patterns. Neither sees the conversation where the victim is being coached to make the transfer.
UK Investment Scam Volumes Doubled in 18 Months — What PSPs Are Facing
Action Fraud reports and UK Finance data show investment scam APP transfers now account for 38% of total APP losses by value. Here's the pattern.
What Does a Scammer Fingerprint Actually Contain?
Device ID, phone number metadata, message cadence, linguistic pattern, time-zone behavior. A scammer fingerprint is a behavioral signature — not a name.
Three API Patterns PSPs Use to Wire In Fraud Detection
Webhook listeners, notification bus injection, or sidecar API — how PSPs integrate real-time fraud signal tools without rerouting the payment flow.
Honeypots vs Honeybots: Why Static Traps Miss APP Fraud
Traditional honeypots wait passively. A honeybot enters the live conversation — matching the scammer's context, extracting a fingerprint, stalling the transfer.
How Social Engineering Moves Through Payment Rails — And Where It Stalls
The scammer's kill chain ends at the confirmation click. Understanding the conversation layer between social engineering and fund movement is the key to pre-transfer interception.
FCA Consumer Duty and APP Reimbursement: What PSPs Must Know by 2025
The mandatory APP reimbursement rules coming into force mean PSPs absorb losses they previously disputed. The intervention imperative has never been clearer.
What Is Authorised Push Payment Fraud? A Guide for PSP Teams
APP fraud is different from card fraud and unauthorised account access. This guide explains the mechanics — and why traditional fraud tools miss it entirely.
APP Fraud Is Now a PSP Liability Problem — Here's the 2024 Picture
UK Finance data shows APP losses hit £460M in 2023. Under FCA Consumer Duty, PSPs are no longer just the rails — they're co-responsible for the outcome.