Cost-Sensitive Fraud Detection: Thresholding, Metrics, and Calibration
Assume a binary fraud classifier outputs calibrated probabilities p = P(y=1|x). The base rate of fraud is 1%. Business costs:
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False negative (missed fraud): $100
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False positive (flagging a non-fraud): $1
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True positives and true negatives: $0
Answer the following:
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Derive the Bayes-optimal probability threshold that minimizes expected cost for a calibrated classifier, and compute its numeric value with the given costs.
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Among ROC-AUC, PR-AUC, F1, MCC, KS, or cost-based metrics, identify which best reflect these business goals and justify your choice.
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You must cap manual reviews to ≤0.5% of all cases. Describe how to choose a validation-set threshold that maximizes expected profit (minimizes expected cost) subject to that cap.
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Explain how to verify calibration (e.g., reliability diagrams, Brier score) and how to recalibrate (Platt scaling vs. isotonic regression) without data leakage.