Recorded Future and CYBERA Partner to Combat Rising Payment Fraud with AI-Powered Mule Account Intelligence

As authorized push payment (APP) fraud surges, driven by sophisticated scams and faster payment systems, Recorded Future and CYBERA have joined forces to provide financial institutions with enhanced tools to detect and prevent fraudulent transactions. Their collaboration centers on integrating CYBERA’s Money Mule Intelligence into the Recorded Future Platform, offering a critical defense against a rapidly evolving threat.

The Escalating Threat of APP Fraud

APP fraud, where victims are tricked into authorizing payments to scammers, is experiencing significant growth. According to Deloitte, APP fraud losses in the U.S. Are projected to reach nearly $15 billion by 2028, a substantial increase from $8.3 billion in 2024. This rise is fueled by the increasing sophistication of scams, including the use of AI-generated deepfakes and personalized scam scripts, coupled with the speed of instant payment systems like FedNow, and Zelle.

The Role of Mule Accounts in Fraud

Central to the success of APP fraud are “mule accounts” – accounts used by criminals to receive and move stolen funds. These accounts act as a crucial bridge, converting illicit payments into untraceable cash or cryptocurrency. Without mule accounts, the vast majority of APP fraud schemes would be significantly hampered, as criminals avoid directly receiving funds into their own accounts. By the time victims realize they’ve been defrauded, the money has typically been moved through multiple layers, making recovery extremely tough.

Increasing Sophistication of Mule Operations

Criminal organizations are employing increasingly sophisticated tactics to manage mule accounts. “Mule herders” now oversee hundreds of accounts, utilizing AI to simulate normal transaction behavior – such as grocery purchases and streaming subscriptions – to avoid detection. This makes identifying mule accounts through traditional pattern analysis increasingly challenging.

CYBERA’s Money Mule Intelligence: A Proactive Approach

CYBERA addresses this challenge with its AI-powered Scam Engagement System, which generates verified intelligence on bank accounts actively used by scam networks. Unlike traditional risk scoring methods that rely on probabilities, CYBERA verifies each account, providing evidence and contextual metadata to enable proactive prevention of fraud. This approach minimizes false positives and supports both internal and outbound payment screening.

Two Core Use Cases

• On-Us Mule Detection: Identifies mule accounts held within a financial institution that are linked to confirmed scam activity, enabling early disruption and reducing regulatory exposure.
• Off-Us Screening: Screens outbound payments to external accounts before execution, preventing customers from sending funds to scammer-controlled accounts, particularly valuable for high-value transfers.

Integration with Recorded Future’s Platform

The partnership allows Recorded Future customers to enhance their Payment Fraud Intelligence (PFI) capabilities with CYBERA’s Money Mule Intelligence. This integration provides coverage from the initial compromise of a payment instrument through attempted cash-out, enabling fraud teams to intervene at multiple points. Jamie Zajac, Chief Product Officer at Recorded Future, stated, “Securing payments requires more than reacting to fraud — it requires anticipating it. Integrating Money Mule Intelligence strengthens our ability to illuminate the infrastructure behind financial crime, which is fully aligned with our strategy of securing payments with intelligence.”

Regulatory Pressure and the Need for Proactive Prevention

Regulators are increasingly holding banks accountable for preventing scam-enabled transfers, with some jurisdictions requiring reimbursement of victims. CYBERA’s Money Mule Intelligence provides the verified data needed to comply with these emerging requirements and reduce the operational burden of post-incident investigation.

Mastercard’s Support and Validation

CYBERA has been accepted into the Mastercard Start Path program, further validating its role in the payments ecosystem and marking it as the first Recorded Future partner to achieve this distinction.