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Main Authors: Capozzi, Arthur, Vilella, Salvatore, Moncalvo, Dario, Fornasiero, Marco, Ricci, Valeria, Ronchiadin, Silvia, Ruffo, Giancarlo
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.15896
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author Capozzi, Arthur
Vilella, Salvatore
Moncalvo, Dario
Fornasiero, Marco
Ricci, Valeria
Ronchiadin, Silvia
Ruffo, Giancarlo
author_facet Capozzi, Arthur
Vilella, Salvatore
Moncalvo, Dario
Fornasiero, Marco
Ricci, Valeria
Ronchiadin, Silvia
Ruffo, Giancarlo
contents In recent years, the digitization and automation of anti-financial crime (AFC) investigative processes have faced significant challenges, particularly the need for interpretability of AI model results and the lack of labeled data for training. Network analysis has emerged as a valuable approach in this context. In this paper, we present WeirdFlows, a top-down search pipeline for detecting potentially fraudulent transactions and non-compliant agents. In a transaction network, fraud attempts are often based on complex transaction patterns that change over time to avoid detection. The WeirdFlows pipeline requires neither an a priori set of patterns nor a training set. In addition, by providing elements to explain the anomalies found, it facilitates and supports the work of an AFC analyst. We evaluate WeirdFlows on a dataset from Intesa Sanpaolo (ISP) bank, comprising 80 million cross-country transactions over 15 months, benchmarking our implementation of the algorithm. The results, corroborated by ISP AFC experts, highlight its effectiveness in identifying suspicious transactions and actors, particularly in the context of the economic sanctions imposed in the EU after February 2022. This demonstrates \textit{WeirdFlows}' capability to handle large datasets, detect complex transaction patterns, and provide the necessary interpretability for formal AFC investigations.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_15896
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle FlowSeries: Anomaly Detection in Financial Transaction Flows
Capozzi, Arthur
Vilella, Salvatore
Moncalvo, Dario
Fornasiero, Marco
Ricci, Valeria
Ronchiadin, Silvia
Ruffo, Giancarlo
Computers and Society
Computational Engineering, Finance, and Science
I.2.1; H.3.3
In recent years, the digitization and automation of anti-financial crime (AFC) investigative processes have faced significant challenges, particularly the need for interpretability of AI model results and the lack of labeled data for training. Network analysis has emerged as a valuable approach in this context. In this paper, we present WeirdFlows, a top-down search pipeline for detecting potentially fraudulent transactions and non-compliant agents. In a transaction network, fraud attempts are often based on complex transaction patterns that change over time to avoid detection. The WeirdFlows pipeline requires neither an a priori set of patterns nor a training set. In addition, by providing elements to explain the anomalies found, it facilitates and supports the work of an AFC analyst. We evaluate WeirdFlows on a dataset from Intesa Sanpaolo (ISP) bank, comprising 80 million cross-country transactions over 15 months, benchmarking our implementation of the algorithm. The results, corroborated by ISP AFC experts, highlight its effectiveness in identifying suspicious transactions and actors, particularly in the context of the economic sanctions imposed in the EU after February 2022. This demonstrates \textit{WeirdFlows}' capability to handle large datasets, detect complex transaction patterns, and provide the necessary interpretability for formal AFC investigations.
title FlowSeries: Anomaly Detection in Financial Transaction Flows
topic Computers and Society
Computational Engineering, Finance, and Science
I.2.1; H.3.3
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.15896