The National Bank of Kazakhstan is shifting from investigating committed crimes to preventing fraud before money is transferred. To do this, the regulator will combine data from banks, telecom operators, marketplaces, and other market participants, while artificial intelligence will identify suspicious activity, reports infohub.kz.
This was announced by Binur Zhalenov, Deputy Chairman of the National Bank.
"We must admit and openly say that the problem of fraud remains very relevant today. We, like government agencies in general, have great potential to work and improve our efficiency," he said.
According to Zhalenov, the fight against fraud is currently mostly reactive. Typically, measures are taken only after the money has been transferred, the victim has contacted the bank or police, and then an investigation begins with attempts to recover the stolen funds.
Now the National Bank intends to build a proactive system that can identify fraudulent schemes before a suspicious transaction is completed.
To this end, starting in 2026, the regulator will combine data from telecom operators, financial organizations, marketplaces, cryptocurrency infrastructure, and other sources.
"Fraud is typically generated through phone calls, messages, that is, through data from telecom operators. So starting this year, we are combining data from telecom operators, financial operators, marketplaces, crypto assets, etc., in order to use artificial intelligence to proactively identify potential fraudsters and, most importantly, potential victims based on behavioral patterns," Zhalenov explained.
According to him, the system will analyze user behavior. If a person is under the influence of social engineering, their actions often become atypical.
"When a person is under the influence of social engineering, they start acting abnormally — opening a large number of banking apps, making calls, and so on. The same applies to fraudsters. We are now studying artificial intelligence so that it can automatically identify such patterns," noted the Deputy Chairman of the National Bank.
When suspicious activity is detected, the system can send signals to banks or telecom operators to take measures that can prevent fraud, including blocking transactions or other protective mechanisms.
The National Bank's presentation also noted that the new system plans to use a pair of AI agents. One, called 'Analyst', will study each fraud incident and provide recommendations for investigators. The second AI agent, 'Observer', will monitor the internet and the Darknet to identify new fraud schemes and typologies.
The Darknet (shadow internet) is a hidden segment of the network that is not indexed by conventional search engines like Google. It requires special software (e.g., the Tor browser) and provides full anonymity. The network is used both for illegal trade and for protecting freedom of speech.
The National Bank expects that the use of artificial intelligence will allow a shift from investigating committed crimes to timely prevention.
According to Zhalenov, a pilot project has already been launched, and its first results are expected to be presented by the end of 2026.