Instant payment systems have redefined financial infrastructure in Latin America. Platforms such as Pix in Brazil, SPEI in Mexico and Colombia's new schemes have accelerated the movement of money to unprecedented levels.
But this evolution brings a structural risk that is being underestimated: real-time fraud.
On April 6, 2024, Pix processed a record 250.5 million transactions in a single day1. That growth came with more fraud: according to Central Bank of Brazil data, Pix fraud losses grew 70% in 2024 and reached R$4.9 billion2. In Mexico, SPEI processed more than 3.63 billion transactions in 2023, 39% more than the previous year3.
A structural problem
The challenge isn't the technology. It's the speed.
Instant payment systems eliminate the traditional window for after-the-fact validation. In this context, rule-based models and delayed monitoring lose effectiveness.
The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures defines fast payments as those in which the payee receives the funds immediately and irrevocably4. Once executed, the transaction cannot be reversed.
Fraud is no longer detected after the fact: it happens in the moment.
Current limitations
Financial institutions in the region still run on architectures with three critical limitations:
- Reliance on static rules.
- High false positive rates.
- Inability to analyze in milliseconds.
This reactive approach is incompatible with environments where transactions execute in seconds.
The RiskTech approach
RiskTech's approach transforms the prevention model:
- Real-time analysis of transaction behavior.
- Dynamic risk models.
- Instant scoring built into the payment flow.
This approach makes it possible to anticipate anomalies before the transaction completes, reducing fraud exposure.
The growth of fraud is not a side effect of instant payments: it's a direct consequence of their design. In this new environment, the competitive edge isn't detecting better, but anticipating sooner.
Sources
- CNN Brasil, citing Central Bank of Brazil data: “Pix bate novo recorde e alcança 250,5 milhões de transações” (2024). In Portuguese. View source
- InfoMoney, citing Central Bank of Brazil data: “Prejuízo com fraudes no Pix cresce 70 % e atinge R$ 4,9 bi em 2024”. In Portuguese. View source
- Banco de México: Annual report on financial market infrastructures 2023. In Spanish. View source
- BIS, Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures: “Fast payments – Enhancing the speed and availability of retail payments” (2016). View source
