Interview with Mike Cook, VP Product Solutions: 35 Years of Protecting People from Fraud

For over 35 years, Mike Cook has been a trailblazer in fraud prevention, bringing forward-thinking solutions to the ever-changing landscape of financial crime. From his early days experimenting with social engineering in college to co-founding ID Analytics and coining the term “synthetic fraud,” Mike’s career has been marked by a relentless pursuit of innovative solutions. Along the way, he’s secured multiple patents, built revolutionary data-sharing technologies, and challenged traditional thinking about how fraud is detected and prevented.

In this candid interview, Mike takes us through the unexpected beginnings of his fraud prevention career, starting with a college project that dug deep into identity theft long before it became a major issue. He also shares stories from his early work in auto finance fraud, where he uncovered a large-scale scam involving multiple car dealerships. Mike reflects on his time building game-changing technologies, from introducing real-time link analysis to flipping the conventional scoring system for fraud detection.

Now, as a key leader at DataVisor, Mike talks about his passion for tackling the latest challenges in fraud—from synthetic identities to the growing sophistication of fraudsters using AI and machine learning. He offers valuable insights into how financial institutions can speed up fraud model governance, embrace data sharing without breaching privacy, and even reconsider the role of friction in transactions to protect consumers. Whether you’re a seasoned fraud prevention professional or simply curious about the future of financial crime, this conversation with Mike Cook is a must-read.

This is an abridged version of our conversation with Mike Cook. 

The Beginning

Reem: Hi, Mike. Thanks for joining us today. You have over 35 years of experience in fraud prevention and have played a pivotal role in shaping the way we approach fraud and financial crime. So, I’ve been really looking forward to this conversation.

Mike: Thank you! I’ve been looking forward to it as well. I think this will be fun because we’ll get to share some insights I haven’t talked about much before.

Reem: I’m excited to dive into your journey, where the industry is headed, and your reasons for joining DataVisor. But let’s start with the beginning—what first drew you to the world of fraud prevention?

Mike: It’s kind of funny. In college, we had this open assignment where we could write about anything. For whatever reason, I decided to see how much I could learn about someone’s identity just by piecing together public information. This was way back before the internet, so I did it the hard way—digging through microfiche and government records. I basically did a form of social engineering before I even knew what that was. I ended up finding out a lot, including Social Security numbers, birth certificates, even medical information. I went so far as to get X-rays of a broken foot surgery for the person I was researching.

I wrote the paper, got an A, but then I got into trouble because I had used the president of the university, Dr. Hardesty, as my subject! Needless to say, they weren’t too thrilled about that.

After that, my first real job out of college was as a collector for Chrysler, where I uncovered this woman who had financed five different cars under different names at five different dealerships—all delivered to the Astrodome. She never paid for any of them. I actually spoke with her, and she laughed, saying we were idiots for making those loans and even bigger idiots for delivering the cars to her at a stadium. She was taking the cars down to Mexico to have them chopped up and resold. That conversation got me hooked—I knew I wanted to stop that kind of fraud.

Innovations

Reem: Wow, that’s an incredible story. It sounds like you really had a hands-on role from the start, digging into the details. That probably laid the foundation for some of your later innovations. I understand you hold several patents and have developed unique technologies. What were some of your earliest fraud innovations?

Mike: Thank you. Yes, my approach has always been to dig deep into problems to find solutions. One of the earliest innovations came in the early 2000s when I co-founded ID Analytics. At the time, the standard approach to fraud detection was basic—matching a name and date of birth, checking if the address was listed on a landline because cell phones weren’t a thing yet. But fraud was getting more sophisticated, and false positives were everywhere.

We wanted to do something different, so we developed a system using graph theory to analyze connections between data points in real time. This was in 2003, and we were already using machine learning—specifically gradient boosted trees—before it became a buzzword. One of the small but impactful things we did was flip the concept of a fraud score. Back then, there wasn’t a clear distinction between a credit score and a fraud score, so we made the decision that a higher fraud score meant higher risk, which was unusual at the time.

Another major project I worked on was creating a technology for sharing data without actually sharing sensitive personal information. I started a company called Data Exchange, where we allowed companies to securely match data behind their firewalls without ever exposing personally identifiable information (PII).

It was ahead of its time, but I believe it’s still an idea worth pursuing, and DataVisor is well-positioned to do something similar.

Synthetic Fraud

Reem: That’s revolutionary, especially the idea of sharing data without sharing personal information. I also heard that you coined the term “synthetic fraud,” which is now a widely recognized concept. How did that come about?

Mike: Yeah, that’s a funny story. I do get credit for coining the term “synthetic fraud,” but the idea came from a different place. If you remember the old Alien movies, they had synthetic characters—that was a bit of the inspiration. But on a more serious note, the behavior was there before anyone recognized it as a distinct type of fraud. At ID Analytics, we were using link analysis to find patterns where identities were partially real and partially fabricated—people like “Mike Cook,” “Michael Cook,” and “Mark Cook,” all sharing similar information but slightly altered. These synthetic identities were being used in fraud rings. What stood out to me was that they were using hard-to-verify places of employment, like hospitals, where it was difficult to confirm someone worked there. That’s when I realized we had a new type of fraud on our hands, and we needed to educate the industry about it.

Challenges

Reem: It’s amazing how far synthetic fraud has come since then. Fraud is constantly evolving, and it seems like synthetic fraud is no exception. What do you think are some of the biggest challenges banks, credit unions, and fintechs face today?

Mike: Broadly speaking, I think the biggest challenge is that we’re behind. Fraudsters are ahead of us, particularly in how they’re using AI. It’s like a soccer game, and the bad guys have been on the field for an hour before we even showed up. They’ve been sharing information, testing new tactics, and improving faster than we have. That’s why data sharing is so important. Fraudsters are sharing tools and strategies on social sites all over the internet, and we need to catch up.

Another challenge is the speed at which institutions are adopting new fraud models. Banks have strict model governance processes, which are necessary, but they slow things down. By the time a new model is approved, it might already be outdated. At DataVisor, we use unsupervised machine learning to capture emerging patterns, but we need to speed up the implementation of new technologies across the industry.

And finally, I’ve come to believe that we need to bring back some friction in the customer experience. For years, we’ve worked to minimize friction, but with today’s advanced fraud tactics, we may need to rethink that approach. Deploying step-up authentication, document verification, and other friction points more often might be necessary to stay ahead, at least for a while.

Solutions

Reem: You’ve highlighted some significant challenges and potential solutions. Let’s switch gears. You recently joined DataVisor—what excites you most about this new chapter in your career?

Mike: Joining DataVisor was an easy decision. The people here are brilliant, and the technology is even better than I expected. We have proprietary tools like our Knowledge Graph, which can do real-time link analysis in ways I haven’t seen before. That’s exciting to me because it’s cutting-edge, and it’s where the future of fraud detection is heading.

I’m also excited about tackling fraud in new areas, like transaction fraud, account takeover, and especially P2P payment fraud. New account fraud is mostly well understood and there are some great solutions in place that can be orchestrated through DataVisor. The more difficult to catch fraud remains inside the account, attacking both our customers and consumers in the form of scams and other transactional fraud, and I think DataVisor is perfectly positioned to lead in that space.

And finally, the regulatory landscape is changing. The shift in liability for authorized push payment (APP) fraud is going to force banks to adopt faster and more efficient fraud solutions. Whether through regulation or self-regulation, the industry will have to step up, and I want to be part of that change.

Personal Pursuits

Reem: It sounds like an exciting time to be at DataVisor. One last question before we wrap up—what drives you personally? Do you have any passions or hobbies outside of work?

Mike: My biggest passion is my family. I have five kids, and they mean everything to me. A few years ago, one of my daughters got scammed in a government impersonation scam. She lost $900, but more than that, the emotional toll it took on her was devastating. That experience really hit home and fueled my desire to fight fraud even harder.

Outside of that, I’m passionate about sustainability. I bought 45 acres in East Texas, and I’m building a cabin there with the goal of living off the grid. It’s a long-term project, but it’s something I’m excited about. I want to show my kids that you don’t need to be materialistic to live a good life, and sustainability is something that can give you peace of mind and fulfillment.

Reem: It’s clear that both your professional and personal passions are closely aligned. Mike, it’s been a pleasure talking with you. Thank you so much for your time!

Mike: Thank you! I’ve really enjoyed this, and I’m excited about what’s ahead at DataVisor.