American Express Global Business Travel addresses fraud with Expedia Group’s FPaaS

Expedia Group’s AI-powered fraud prevention solution will enable illegal activity to be combatted

Expedia Group has announced that American Express Global Business Travel (Amex GBT) will use its Fraud Prevention as a Service (FPaaS) solution for travel bookings on its Amex GBT Egencia solution. 

FPaaS blocks fraudulent transactions before they happen, reducing unscrupulous activity and enabling more protection for its clients.

With data models based on billions of data points from over 25 years of travel industry experience, Expedia Group’s Fraud Prevention as a Service solution leverages AI and ML to look at signals and flag suspicious activity when behavior patterns deviate from the norm, allowing intervention before fraud occurs. 

Key features included in FPaaS used by Amex GBT’s Egencia solution are Booking Screening where Expedia Group reviews e-commerce transactions in real time with AI/ML fraud detection models to stop fraudulent transactions at the source, and Account Takeover Protection  where Expedia Group monitors and reviews customer logins in real time using AI/ML models to secure the safety and integrity of customer accounts when potentially fraudulent activity is detected via suggested remedial actions. 

Other partners can also take advantage of the solution’s Chargeback Management feature.

Expedia Group’s in-house specialist fraud operations team takes full end-to-end ownership of the dispute management and resolution process, dealing with all interactions with banks and merchants, all backed by a 100% chargeback guarantee, which reimburses partners for any true fraudulent transactions.

It does not cover transactions that were either screened by FPaaS and not approved and chargebacks for friendly fraud or service issues.

Experian’s 2022 Global Identity and Fraud Report found that 70% of businesses say their concern about fraud increased compared to the year before and 58% of consumers have been a victim of online fraud, know someone who has been a victim, or both.

The impacts are felt by the travel industry too. Research from global Edgar, Dunn & Company, on behalf of eNett, said in total, fraud costs the travel industry over $21 billion dollars annually, including $6 billion dollars in damages and $15 billion in overheads.

“We’ve combined over 20 years’ experience in the fraud prevention space with our unwavering commitment to continually evolve our technology in response to changing partner needs, resulting in targeted business solutions such as Fraud Prevention as a Service,” said Karen Bolda, senior vice president, demand solutions of Expedia Group. 

“By leveraging AI and machine learning, we’re happy to be offering Amex GBT a simple and effective way to help them manage fraudulent activity, ultimately, giving their customers better peace of mind when they’re booking trips.”

The technology collaboration shows the "progress the partnership is making" between the two firms and "symbolises the strong relationship" between the two organisations since Expedia Group sold Egencia to American Express Global Business Travel in 2021.

“We value our long-standing partnership with Expedia Group and their AI-driven solutions that address the ever-evolving needs of business travel and its many stakeholders,” said John Sturino, senior vice president of travel products and engineering of Amex GBT.

“This collaboration reinforces our commitment to our clients to deliver cutting-edge solutions that still meet the highest standards of security.”