Credit-card giant Visa Inc. has agreed to buy Israeli online fraud and financial crime detection provider BioCatch for $2.4 billion to bolster its cybersecurity tools and protect consumers and institutions from the growing threat of AI-driven account takeovers and scams.

Visa said it is acquiring BioCatch from London-based private equity firm Permira and other investors. As part of the deal, the Israeli pioneer in the field of behavioral biometrics will become part of Visa, but will continue to operate with the same team. The transaction is expected to close by the end of Visa’s fiscal second quarter of 2027, pending customary regulatory approvals and conditions.

“Account takeovers and scams cost the global economy over $1 trillion annually and AI is enabling these attacks at unprecedented scale,” said Andrew Torre, Visa president of value-added services. “BioCatch will help our clients stop fraud before it reaches the point of payment.”

Over the past five years, Visa has invested more than $13 billion in technology and infrastructure to safeguard its payments ecosystem and reduce fraud rates.

“The reality is, as a society and industry, we are not winning this fight,” said BioCatch CEO Gadi Mazor. “By every metric, the bad actors (increasingly and primarily organized crime)........

© The Times of Israel