Online Banking Fraud Detection Model: Decentralized Machine Learning Framework to Enhance Effectiveness and Compliance with Data Privacy Regulations

In such a dynamic and increasingly digitalized financial sector, many sophisticated fraudulent and cybercrime activities continue to challenge conventional detection systems. This research study explores a decentralized anomaly detection framework using deep autoencoders, designed to meet the dual i...

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Main Authors: Hisham AbouGrad, Lakshmi Sankuru
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-06-01
Series:Mathematics
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7390/13/13/2110
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author Hisham AbouGrad
Lakshmi Sankuru
author_facet Hisham AbouGrad
Lakshmi Sankuru
author_sort Hisham AbouGrad
collection DOAJ
description In such a dynamic and increasingly digitalized financial sector, many sophisticated fraudulent and cybercrime activities continue to challenge conventional detection systems. This research study explores a decentralized anomaly detection framework using deep autoencoders, designed to meet the dual imperatives of fraud detection effectiveness and user data privacy. Instead of relying on centralized aggregation or data sharing, the proposed model simulates distributed training across multiple financial nodes, with each institution processing data locally and independently. The framework is evaluated using two real-world datasets, the Credit Card Fraud dataset and the NeurIPS 2022 Bank Account Fraud dataset. The research methodology applied robust preprocessing, the implementation of a compact autoencoder architecture, and a threshold-based anomaly detection strategy. Evaluation metrics, such as confusion matrices, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, precision–recall (PR) curves, and reconstruction error distributions, are used to assess the model’s performance. Also, a threshold sensitivity analysis has been applied to explore detection trade-offs at varying levels of strictness. Although the model’s recall remains modest due to class imbalance, it demonstrates strong precision at higher thresholds, which demonstrates its utility in minimizing false positives. Overall, this research study is a practical and privacy-conscious approach to fraud detection that aligns with the operational realities of financial institutions and regulatory compliance toward scalability, privacy preservation, and interpretable fraud detection solutions suitable for real-world financial environments.
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spelling doaj-art-b1a972c62f19441eb3f26b857b9ae4fe2025-08-20T03:50:16ZengMDPI AGMathematics2227-73902025-06-011313211010.3390/math13132110Online Banking Fraud Detection Model: Decentralized Machine Learning Framework to Enhance Effectiveness and Compliance with Data Privacy RegulationsHisham AbouGrad0Lakshmi Sankuru1Department of Computer Science and Digital Technologies, School of Architecture, Computing and Engineering, University of East London, University Way, Docklands, London E16 2RD, UKDepartment of Computer Science and Digital Technologies, School of Architecture, Computing and Engineering, University of East London, University Way, Docklands, London E16 2RD, UKIn such a dynamic and increasingly digitalized financial sector, many sophisticated fraudulent and cybercrime activities continue to challenge conventional detection systems. This research study explores a decentralized anomaly detection framework using deep autoencoders, designed to meet the dual imperatives of fraud detection effectiveness and user data privacy. Instead of relying on centralized aggregation or data sharing, the proposed model simulates distributed training across multiple financial nodes, with each institution processing data locally and independently. The framework is evaluated using two real-world datasets, the Credit Card Fraud dataset and the NeurIPS 2022 Bank Account Fraud dataset. The research methodology applied robust preprocessing, the implementation of a compact autoencoder architecture, and a threshold-based anomaly detection strategy. Evaluation metrics, such as confusion matrices, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, precision–recall (PR) curves, and reconstruction error distributions, are used to assess the model’s performance. Also, a threshold sensitivity analysis has been applied to explore detection trade-offs at varying levels of strictness. Although the model’s recall remains modest due to class imbalance, it demonstrates strong precision at higher thresholds, which demonstrates its utility in minimizing false positives. Overall, this research study is a practical and privacy-conscious approach to fraud detection that aligns with the operational realities of financial institutions and regulatory compliance toward scalability, privacy preservation, and interpretable fraud detection solutions suitable for real-world financial environments.https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7390/13/13/2110fraud detectionfinancial cybercrimedeep autoencoderanomaly detectionfinancial securitymachine learning
spellingShingle Hisham AbouGrad
Lakshmi Sankuru
Online Banking Fraud Detection Model: Decentralized Machine Learning Framework to Enhance Effectiveness and Compliance with Data Privacy Regulations
Mathematics
fraud detection
financial cybercrime
deep autoencoder
anomaly detection
financial security
machine learning
title Online Banking Fraud Detection Model: Decentralized Machine Learning Framework to Enhance Effectiveness and Compliance with Data Privacy Regulations
title_full Online Banking Fraud Detection Model: Decentralized Machine Learning Framework to Enhance Effectiveness and Compliance with Data Privacy Regulations
title_fullStr Online Banking Fraud Detection Model: Decentralized Machine Learning Framework to Enhance Effectiveness and Compliance with Data Privacy Regulations
title_full_unstemmed Online Banking Fraud Detection Model: Decentralized Machine Learning Framework to Enhance Effectiveness and Compliance with Data Privacy Regulations
title_short Online Banking Fraud Detection Model: Decentralized Machine Learning Framework to Enhance Effectiveness and Compliance with Data Privacy Regulations
title_sort online banking fraud detection model decentralized machine learning framework to enhance effectiveness and compliance with data privacy regulations
topic fraud detection
financial cybercrime
deep autoencoder
anomaly detection
financial security
machine learning
url https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7390/13/13/2110
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AT lakshmisankuru onlinebankingfrauddetectionmodeldecentralizedmachinelearningframeworktoenhanceeffectivenessandcompliancewithdataprivacyregulations