Engage is an Italian consulting firm specialised in data regulatory compliance for banks. The company partnered with Jamaican startup IDMAPS, which brings its knowledge in digital authentication. Both companies, supported by the EU-LAC Digital Accelerator, aim to build a solution for banks to better protect their clients against cyberscammers.
Scam payments on the rise: Is there anything we can do?
99% of us have already received this text:
A phishing attempt on an HSBC customer
While most of us would immediately discard this text message, rolling our eyes at how obvious the scam is, some do fall for it.
You click the link. Enter your bank details.
Behind another screen, hundreds of miles away or in the house next door, the criminal logs into your account and transfers €5,000 to an overseas account.
In the worst-case scenario, hasta la vista, you will never see the money again.
Today, there are multiple reasons to be constantly on high alert:
- A recent report shows a drastic 77% increase in banking phishing attempts in Europe in 2024[1]. Not 10%, not 20%, 77%. Nearly double compared to the previous year.
- Technology makes criminal attempts far more dangerous:
– GenAI enables cyber gangsters to create convincing audio and video deepfakes, impersonating bank staff, executives, or even regulators.
– A malicious AI chatbot can begin a conversation in real time, adapting its responses and increasing the likelihood of extracting sensitive information.
A natural conversation between a bank client…and an AI chatbot[2]
With threats and cyberattack sophistication on the rise, the need to protect financial institutions and their customers has never been so high.
A global partnership to counter a global threat
It is in this context that two companies, Engage from Italy, and IDMAPS from Jamaica, joined forces within the EU-LAC Digital Accelerator to give a hard time to cybercriminals.
Who is Engage?
On the one hand, Headquartered in Milan, Engage S.p.A. is a leading Italian IT firm specialising in cybersecurity, regulatory compliance, and data management solutions. Engage has partnered with banks, government agencies, and major enterprises across Europe to tackle critical challenges using advanced AI and digital transformation technologies.
With deep expertise in fraud detection and prevention, Engage develops cutting-edge platforms that help financial institutions identify suspicious activity in real time, safeguard assets, and stay ahead of evolving threats. Their solutions combine intelligent analytics, machine learning, and robust cybersecurity measures to provide clients with fast, accurate, and actionable insights.
Who is IDMAPS?
On the other hand, Innovative Data Mining & Advanced Analytics Partners (IDMAPS) is a Kingston-based data analytics and enterprise intelligence company specialising in AI, machine learning, and business analytics solutions. The company delivers tailored products in enterprise data management, intelligent applications, and predictive analytics, helping organisations across finance, telecoms, and public sectors make faster, data-driven decisions.
The Jamaican startup and the Italian firm are now committed to building a sophisticated machine learning model capable of detecting digital payment fraud in Europe and the Caribbean. By way of illustration, we estimate that up to $800 million is lost to fraud annually in Jamaica.
Here are some concrete use cases of such a solution:
- The ML model learns what normal customer behaviour looks like (such as typical transaction amounts, locations, and times). If someone suddenly attempts to transfer a large amount of money or makes back-to-back withdrawals from an unusual location, the system would flag it immediately, allowing the bank to investigate before any serious issues arise.
- If a hacker manages to break into someone’s online banking or mobile wallet, the system would notice strange login patterns or devices being used and raise a red flag. A sudden change can indicate account takeover attempts.
- This system can pick up patterns and connections between suspicious accounts and transactions, uncovering organised scams before they spread.
How will the EU-LAC Digital Accelerator support the transatlantic partnership?
The plan for the newly formed partnership is as follows:
1. Gather historical data from partner banks in Europe and the Caribbean in order to identify common fraud patterns and trends.
| → How will the EU-LAC Digital Accelerator help? By benefiting from the Market opportunity sizing service, the partnership can focus its efforts where demand is highest. For example, if mid-sized banks in the Caribbean face the most acute fraud challenges, the partnership can tailor its solution and go-to-market strategy for this specific geographic and bank size segment. |
2. Rely on advanced machine learning techniques, like unsupervised learning, to power the fraud detection model. The more data it processes, the smarter it gets at telling the difference between normal transactions and ones that could be fraudulent.
3. Integrate the fraud detection model into existing banking systems, conduct extensive testing to validate the accuracy and reliability of the model and gather real customer feedback.
| → How will the EU-LAC Digital Accelelerator help? With the Design and implement pilot projects service, the partnership can deploy its machine learning fraud detection system in actual banking environments. This allows the team to test the system with real transaction data, measure fraud detection rates, and assess false positives[3], ensuring the technology works effectively before a full-scale rollout. |
4. Deploy the system across partner banks in the EU and the Caribbean. Set up a helpdesk and make regular updates to ensure the system remains effective against evolving fraud tactics.
| → How will the EU-LAC Digital Accelelerator help? Thanks to the Scaling of the solution service, the partnership will be able to handle a massive and growing volume of banking transactions efficiently without sacrificing speed or accuracy. |
What do Engage and IDMAPS expect from the collaboration?
Banks across Europe and the Caribbean will enjoy a number of benefits:
THE #1 BENEFITAI-powered fraud detection systems could reduce fraud losses by 30–50% based on global benchmarks, as well as up to a 40% reduction in investigation costs. |
Besides:
- Customers are more likely to trust their banks if they communicate effectively about the cyberattacks they managed to block.
- The solution, in particular thanks to Engage’s knowledge, will be 100% compliant with regional banking regulations.
- The use of explainable AI[4] in the model ensures end users and analysts can understand why a specific transaction was flagged, fostering confidence in the system and thus more fluid adoption.
[1] Tietoevry,Tietoevry Banking’s new insight-report reveals an increase in digital payment fraud in Europe, 2025, <https://www.tietoevry.com/en/newsroom/all-news-and-releases/press-releases/2025/04/tietoevry-bankings-new-insight-report-reveals-an-increase-in-digital-payment-fraud-in-europe/>.
[2] Caniphish,The 6 Most Popular AI Scams In 2025, 2025, <https://caniphish.com/blog/ai-scams>.
[3] A “false positive” in fraud detection occurs when a legitimate transaction or user action is incorrectly flagged as suspicious or fraudulent by the system. In other words, the system raises an alert or blocks an action even though no fraud has actually taken place.
[4] It refers to a set of processes, methods, and tools designed to make the decisions and outputs of AI and machine learning models understandable and transparent to humans. Explainable AI aims to answer questions like “Why did the AI system make this particular decision?”.
