Loyalty Forensics Specialist

Description

The Loyalty Forensics Specialist is a senior role responsible for leading the fraud mitigation portfolio across Corporation's loyalty programmes. This role provides strategic direction and oversight to ensure that customer points, vouchers, and benefits remain secure while minimizing financial losses and safeguarding programme integrity. With fraud in loyalty programmes increasing both globally and locally, this position takes ownership of developing fraud prevention strategies, coordinating investigations, and driving systemic improvements across the business.

Job Description
Role and Responsibilities

• General:
Provide strategic leadership and oversight of  Corporation's loyalty fraud mitigation portfolio.
Detect, investigate, and mitigate fraudulent activity within loyalty programmes.
Lead collaboration efforts with the Call Centre, Loyalty Team, Operations, POS Systems, and Loyalty Systems to ensure end-to-end fraud controls.
Collect, preserve, and analyse digital evidence (system logs, transaction history).

• Fraud Risk Management:
Develop and maintain enterprise-level fraud detection rules and monitoring frameworks.
Establish thresholds and alerts for high-risk behaviors such as abnormal points accumulations, voucher redemptions or excessive promotion usage.
Oversee post-incident reviews, ensuring root causes are addressed and systemic improvements implemented.
Lead forensic analysis of profile usage, device data, and partner reports to understand emerging fraud tactics.
Recommend and implement enhanced digital controls in partnership with IT Security.

• Reporting and Insights
Oversee the production of dashboards and reports on loyalty fraud trends.
Present findings and recommendations to senior management, highlighting key risks, performance of fraud controls, and emerging threats.
Provide data-driven insights that inform long-term fraud prevention strategy.

• Customer and Business Protection. Ensure fraud prevention measures protect the business without compromising customer experience.
Partner with internal stakeholders to support impacted customers.
Act as a subject matter expert on loyalty fraud risks for internal and external stakeholders.

JOB DESCRIPTION
LOYALTY FORENSICS SPECIALIST

• Compliance
Ensure all investigations are conducted in compliance with POPIA and internal data protection policies.
Support audits, regulatory requests, and compliance reviews related to loyalty fraud.

• Stakeholder Engagement
Lead cross-functional engagement with Loyalty, CRM, IT, Operations, Training and Legal.
Provide regular fraud risk updates to senior executives and franchise stakeholders.
Foster a culture of fraud awareness and proactive risk management across the organization.

Key Skills and Competencies

• Senior-level experience in fraud investigation, prevention, or digital forensics, ideally in loyalty, payments, or financial services.

• Proven leadership skills with the ability to manage a fraud portfolio and influence cross-functional teams.

• Strong analytical and investigative abilities, with expertise in fraud detection systems and forensic tools.

• Excellent communication and reporting skills, including the ability to brief senior executives.

• Deep understanding of loyalty fraud risks such as account takeovers, promotion abuse, and voucher exploitation.

• Strong knowledge of compliance frameworks (POPIA, GDPR) and customer data protection.

• Ability to balance business protection with customer experience.

Education and Experience Requirements

• Tertiary education, preferably in Risk Management, Forensic Accounting, Information Systems or Computer Science qualifications.

• 5-7 experience in fraud investigation, risk management, or digital forensics, with at least 3 years in a senior or leadership role

• Proven track record of managing a fraud prevention portfolio in loyalty, payments, retail, or financial services environments.

• Strong experience with fraud detection and monitoring systems, data analytics tools, and case management platforms.

• Demonstrated success in leading cross-functional teams (e.g., Operations, IT Security, Customer Service) to mitigate fraud risks.

• Experience working with regulatory and compliance frameworks (e.g., POPIA, GDPR, PCI DSS).

• Exposure to loyalty programme ecosystems, including POS integration, voucher systems, and customer data platforms, is advantageous.