“Mastercard has made multiple investments in fraud prevention companies and technologies over the past 10 years,” said Aaron Press, research director for IDC’s worldwide payment strategies. This includes Brighterion AI, Vocalink, Ekata and Ethoca, among others. “They have different angles on things, but they’re all around fraud prevention and risk management.”

He pointed out that the direct financial risk of fraud to Mastercard and its competitors, such as Visa or American Express, is minimal, as they don’t issue the cards themselves — the financial institutions that make up their customer base do.

“It’s interesting that they’re taking such an interest in this,” he said. Although risk is indirect, “it’s in their interest to maintain integrity in the payment systems that they operate. If consumers lose trust in the process, nobody uses the cards. They want to increase their stickiness with their constituents.”