3–6 Feb 2026
Europe/Rome timezone

Quantum-Enhanced Fraud Detection: A Comparative Study on Real-World Financial Data

6 Feb 2026, 09:00
20m
Auditorium U12 - Guido Martinotti

Auditorium U12 - Guido Martinotti

Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Edificio U12, Via Vizzola, 5, 20126 Milano (MI)

Speaker

Andrea Cacioppo (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare)

Description

Financial fraud detection is a highly imbalanced and dynamic learning problem that challenges traditional machine learning models. Quantum machine learning (QML) offers new representational paradigms capable of exploring high-dimensional feature spaces in ways substantially different from classical systems, leveraging quantum superposition and entanglement. In this study, we present a comprehensive evaluation of quantum and hybrid QML architectures, specifically Quantum Autoencoders, Hybrid Diffusion Time Estimation, and Hybrid Variational Autoencoders, applied to real-world banking data encompassing millions of transactions. By combining deterministic preprocessing, feature selection, and balanced validation protocols, we assess the comparative advantages of quantum-enhanced inference under realistic fraud detection conditions. We implement quantum models via classical simulations. Results indicate that even if current NISQ hardware constraints limit scalability, quantum–classical hybrids can yield measurable improvements in anomaly sensitivity and calibration over standard baselines for specific data regimes. Classical models generally remain more consistent and robust overall. This study provides one of the first end-to-end empirical analyses of QML in operational financial contexts, illustrating both its feasibility and open research challenges.

Sessions Quantum Machine Learning:
Invited No

Authors

Andrea Cacioppo (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare) Francesca De Falco (Sapienza Università di Roma) Francesco Di Luzio (Sapienza Università di Roma) Leonardo Lavagna (Sapienza Università di Roma) Massimo Panella (Sapienza Università di Roma) Stefano Giagu (Sapienza Università di Roma and Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare)

Presentation materials