In New York, USA, on September 26, 2024, Visa Inc. was sued by the US Justice Department for allegedly monopolizing the debit card market illegally. This case was the first significant antitrust lawsuit in the financial services industry under the Biden administration.

Visa has reported that its new team dedicated to combating scams has been successful in its first year, preventing $350 million in fraudulent activities across multiple attacks up to now.

Earlier in 2024, Visa consolidated various cross-disciplinary teams comprising engineers, former law enforcement personnel, data visualization experts, and others into a single anti-scam unit to address the escalating issue of payment security threats.

The company utilizes its extensive transaction data and scam reports to detect criminal networks that pose a threat to Visa's payment system. This initiative aligns with Visa's broader strategy of diversifying its offerings beyond just payments to encompass related technologies, particularly focusing on security.

The primary goal of the anti-scam unit is to minimize consumer losses resulting from payment-related crimes that can lead to financial risks for consumers. While there are indirect expenses associated with scams for payment networks such as Visa, they usually do not directly bear the costs of unauthorized transactions. The responsibility for covering the expenses of unauthorized charges typically falls on the issuing bank, the merchant, or the merchant bank, depending on the situation.

Scams, although they involve authorized transactions by some definitions, differ in that scammers often deceive victims into paying for misrepresented goods or services rather than stealing their financial details. Consequently, cardholders could be held accountable for losses if these payments are deemed authorized.

Nonetheless, cardholders do report transactions that ultimately become their responsibility. Moreover, the specifics of each disputed transaction are crucial in determining liability, which also entails costs.

Each disputed transaction requires time and effort from claims investigators at the issuing bank, resulting in costs that can affect the bank's revenue from vendors.

In situations where chargebacks are requested—when the issuing bank demands reimbursement from the merchant and its bank—merchant banks may bear a portion of the associated expenses. According to a 2023 report by the Federal Reserve Board, merchants covered 47% of losses from fraudulent transactions, while issuers and merchant banks absorbed 33.5% and 19.5%, respectively.

Reducing the duration spent on investigations and the overall expenses related to fraud and scams can make a payment network more appealing to card issuers and merchant banks selecting from the available payment networks for their card offerings and services. Visa's anti-scam efforts play a critical role in enhancing the overall safety of the network.