Fraud Management College Aide

NYC Department of Finance (DOF) is responsible for administering the tax revenue laws of the city fairly, efficiently, and transparently to instill public confidence and encourage compliance while providing exceptional customer service.

DOF’s Treasury and Payment Services Division is responsible for overseeing all City payment websites, the payment processing of tax returns, property recording forms, parking violation programs, and the collection of delinquent accounts, and oversees the agency’s management of the City’s cash balances and its relationships with banking institutions. Treasury and Payment Services is also responsible for collecting outstanding violations issued by City agencies and adjudicated by the Environmental Control Board.

Payments, Billing, and Refunds is responsible for processing payments for property taxes and property-related charges, business and excise taxes, and parking and camera violations. The division is responsible for communicating amounts due, maintaining the quality of departmental records, and providing customer service to individuals seeking information on making payments or receiving refunds. Payments, Billing, and Refunds perform account adjustments and respond to refund inquiries from the public.

DOF is actively engaged in developing best practices to counter the growth of online payment fraud in our online and mobile channels. DOF’s CPSS unit recently implemented several technologies and developed in-house models to identify patterns of fraud and prevent it before it occurs. The focus now is on enhancing and operationalizing these tools, improving workflows, and proactively identifying emerging fraud patterns.

Citywide Payment Services and Standards (CPSS) unit is the official provider of online and mobile payments to all City agencies, ensuring efficient and compliant revenue collection. CPSS also provides point-of-sale software, third-party and self-service payment kiosks for agencies' in-person locations and is responsible for managing the planning and implementation of credit and debit cards, eCheck, Paypal, and Venmo payments, including FMS integration, bank-to-book revenue reconciliation, and automation and PCI-DSS compliance.

CPSS is seeking a Fraud Management College Aide to support this initiative. This is a hands-on, technical role ideal for students pursuing studies in data science, data analytics, or computer science who are passionate about public sector and fraud analytics.

Reporting to the Director of Technology, the selected candidate’s duties and responsibilities include but are not limited to the following:

• Collaborate with CPSS staff to build or refine machine learning based models to enhance fraud detection and identification of other anomalous payment trends.
• Write tests, and evaluate predictive models using Python or R.
• Analyze large transactional datasets to identify patterns, trends, and anomalies related to fraudulent activity.
• Assist in maintaining and refining Power BI dashboards used by analysts and executives. Collaborate with stakeholders to iterate and expand Power BI dashboard modules; and expand end-user querying capabilities.
• Conduct literature reviews and competitive research on emerging fraud schemes, prevention technologies, and vendor tools.
• Help document modeling workflows and results for transparency and reproducibility.
• Assist with the onboarding of the enterprise data platform.
• Assist in the analysis of payment channel prevention strategies that have targeted recidivist customers that have submitted numerous failed payments; design, document and implement prevention solutions.

Additional Information:

In compliance with federal law, all persons hired will be required to verify identity and eligibility to work in…