The Treasury Department announced its success using artificial intelligence to track down instances of check fraud—a potential preview of the results that might come if the agency applies AI in other enforcement-related circumstances.
The Treasury said in a press release Wednesday it “recovered over $375 million as a result of its implementation of an enhanced fraud detection process that utilizes [AI] at the beginning of fiscal year 2023.”
Its focus on check fraud stemmed from instances of the practice skyrocketing since the Covid-19 pandemic. Suspicious activity reports conveying potential check fraud increased 21 percent during 2021 before doubling from there in 2022, the Treasury said.
To thwart the issue, the agency said it “implemented an enhanced process using AI to mitigate check fraud in near real-time by strengthening and expediting processes to recover potentially fraudulent payments from financial institutions.”
“The Treasury Department is committed to safeguarding taxpayer dollars through payment integrity,” said Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo in the agency’s release. “… We are using the latest technological advances to enhance our fraud detection process, and AI has allowed us to expedite the detection of fraud and recovery of tax dollars.”
U.S. agencies have made clear their desire to utilize emerging technologies including AI for enforcement purposes. Of note, the Treasury oversees the country’s primary anti-money laundering and sanctions regulators in the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and Office of Foreign Assets Control, respectively.
No comments yet