Treasury Department's AI-Powered Fraud Detection Yields $375 Million Recovery

The Treasury Department‘s Office of Payment Integrity (OPI) deployed Artificial Intelligence(AI)-based fraud detection at the onset of Fiscal Year 2023, resulting in the recovery of over $375 million. This initiative addresses a 385 percent increase in nationwide check fraud since the pandemic. OPI’s enhanced process utilizes AI to mitigate check fraud in near real-time, expediting the recovery of potentially fraudulent payments from financial institutions.

Financial institutions reported over 350,000 Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) to FinCEN in 2021, a 23 percent increase from 2020. In 2022, SARs related to check fraud surpassed 680,000, nearly doubling from the prior year. Treasury check fraud incidents are also increasing. Enhanced AI processes, in partnership with federal law enforcement, have led to multiple arrests and active cases.