Banks are no longer battling just human fraudsters, but automated systems capable of impersonating customers, manipulating advisors and bypassing authentication protocols. Faced with this new generation of attacks, based on voice cloning and algorithmic disinformation, another artificial intelligence is taking over.
Acoru, a young Madrid company, no longer seeks to block fraud once it has occurred, but to detect criminal intent before a transaction is initiated. The company combines machine learning and behavioral analysis to identify weak signals: suspicious micro-transactions, unusual interaction patterns, repetitive automations revealing fraudulent use of AI.
This positioning is part of a regulatory context in full transformation. The new European directives (PS23/4, PSD3) now require banks to share responsibility for reimbursing victims of fraud. This structural change pushes establishments to adopt predictive and collaborative models and Acoru offers them a shared approach, through a network called Acoru Consortiumwhere financial institutions exchange their risk account classifications in real time.
According to its founders, this interbank cooperation makes it possible to “create a truly collective defense”. The model distinguishes itself from traditional transaction-centric solutions by placing detection at the level of intent. In an environment where identity theft scams are increasing, this ability to anticipate risk becomes strategic for banking establishments.
Founded in 2023 in Madrid by Pablo de la Riva Ferrezuelo and David Morán, Acoru raised 10 million euros in Series A from 33N Ventures, Adara Ventures and Athos Capital. The company has around thirty employees and already collaborates with several European banking establishments. Its goal is to accelerate the deployment of its pre-fraud detection technology, at a time when global losses from banking scams are estimated at nearly $500 billion per year.
