Visa is acquiring Tel Aviv-based fraud detection startup BioCatch for $2.4 billion in cash from private equity firm Permira and other investors. Visa estimates that scams and account takeovers cost the global economy more than $1 trillion annually, and generative AI is making attacks cheaper and more convincing. “BioCatch will help our clients stop fraud before it reaches the point of payment,” said Andrew Torre, Visa’s president of value-added services. The acquisition expands Visa’s value-added services division, which sells fraud prevention, cybersecurity, and analytics software and has become one of the company’s fastest-growing businesses. Visa’s $2.4 billion is the largest bet yet that fraud prevention belongs inside the payment rail, not beside it.