Location controls on payment card transactions

• US 10,204,333 B2
• Filed: 02/27/2015
• Issued: 02/12/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/19/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mastercard International Incorporated (MasterCard Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Mastercard International Incorporated (MasterCard Incorporated)
• Inventors: Fourez, Pablo
• Primary Examiner(s): Norman, Samica L
• Application Number:
  US14/634,210
• Publication Number:
  US 20150170135A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,446 Days
• Field of Search: 705 35, 705 44
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/202 Interconnection or interaction of plural electronic cash registers [ECR] or to host computer, e.g. network details, transfer of information from host to ECR or from ECR to ECR
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3224 Transactions dependent on location of M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/327 Short range or proximity payments by means of M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/40 Authorisation, e.g. identification of payer or payee, verification of customer or shop credentials; Review and approval of payers, e.g. check credit lines or negative lists
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/4014 Identity check for transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/425 using two different networks, one for transaction and one for security confirmation

Abstract

Geographical location information provided by a mobile device is used as a control on the use of a payment card as described. Mobile device identification is linked to a payment card account such that when a payment card authorization request is received, information about the geographic location of the origination of the request is checked against the geographic location provided by the mobile device, and if there is a match, the transaction can further processed for authorization or directly authorized.

Claims

1. A method of processing geographic location data the method comprising the steps of:

storing, in a memory device of a managing computer system, a plurality of cardholder data, wherein each cardholder data, of the plurality of cardholder data, associates identification information of a cardholder mobile terminal with cardholder payment account data,

receiving, by the managing computer system, via a payment network, from a point of sale terminal of a plurality of point of sale terminals, an authorization request for processing an electronic transaction pending with a merchant, wherein the authorization request comprises at least (i) an identifier associated with the cardholder payment account and (ii) data representative of the geographic location of the point of sale terminal;

receiving, by the managing computer system, from the cardholder mobile terminal, via a mobile device application installed on the cardholder mobile terminal, cardholder mobile terminal location data representative of the geographical location of the cardholder mobile terminal, wherein (i) the mobile device application enables the cardholder mobile terminal to communicate with the managing computer system, (ii) the cardholder mobile terminal location data is determined by electronics of the cardholder mobile terminal, and (iii) the step of receiving of the cardholder mobile terminal location data is performed prior to the step of receiving the authorization request;

storing, in the memory device of the managing computer system, the cardholder mobile terminal location data, wherein the cardholder mobile terminal location data is associated with the cardholder data;

determining, by the managing computer system a radius of proximity specific to the pending electronic transaction, wherein said radius of proximity is dynamically determined, on a transaction-by-transaction basis, based on a transaction amount of a respective transaction;

obtaining, by the managing computer system, from the authorization request, the data representative of the geographical location of the point of sale terminal;

obtaining, from the memory device, the cardholder mobile terminal location data representative of the geographical location of the cardholder mobile terminal;

comparing, by the managing computer system, the data representative of the geographical location of the point of sale terminal and the cardholder mobile terminal location data;

based on said comparison, determining, by the managing computer system, if the geographical location of the point of sale terminal and the geographical location of the cardholder mobile terminal are (i) within the determined radius of proximity and (ii) within a same local community, wherein the cardholder mobile terminal location data indicates the last known location of the cardholder mobile terminal and

in response to a determination indicating that the point of sale terminal and the cardholder mobile terminal are at least one of (i) not located within the radius of proximity to one another and (ii) not located within the same local community, communicating, from the managing computer system, an alert message over the payment network to the cardholder mobile terminal, wherein the alert message flags the electronic transaction as potentially fraudulent.

2. A method according to claim 1, comprising the further steps of:

linking, in the memory device of the managing computer system, a network address of the cardholder mobile terminal with a unique identifier representative of a respective financial account or payment card; and

associating, in the memory device of the managing computer system, the associated network address and unique identifier with a financial institution host terminal.

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein the radius of proximity is a geographical area selected from one of (i) an area based on the distance between two geographical points and (ii) an area based on a fixed physical location.

4. A method according to claim 1, wherein the cardholder mobile terminal comprises electronics configured to use a global positioning system to identify the cardholder mobile terminal location data, and the step of receiving cardholder mobile terminal location data from the cardholder mobile terminal comprises the further step of obtaining global positioning coordinates from the cardholder mobile terminal.

5. A method according to claim 1, comprising the further step of forwarding by the managing computer system, the authorization request to a card issuer, for authorizing the transaction, in response to a determination indicating that the point of sale terminal and the cardholder mobile terminal are (i) located within the radius of proximity to one another and (ii) located within the same local community.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of receiving the cardholder mobile terminal location data occurs at predetermined intervals.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the cardholder mobile terminal location data is determined based upon the receipt by the cardholder mobile terminal upon detection by the cardholder mobile terminal of entry into an area of service of a new cellular service provider.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the storing of the cardholder data occurs after a step of receiving, from the cardholder mobile terminal and via the mobile application, registration information, wherein the registration information identifies the cardholder payment account data and the identification information of a cardholder mobile terminal.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

receiving, by the managing computer system and from the cardholder mobile terminal, via a mobile device application running on the cardholder mobile terminal, control data, wherein the control data defines the radius of proximity to be a same country location; and

storing, in the memory device of the managing computing system, the control data, wherein the control data is associated with the cardholder data.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of receiving of the cardholder mobile terminal location data is performed multiple times, the step of storing the cardholder mobile terminal location data is performed multiple times and the comparing step further comprises comparing the data representative of the geographic location of the point of sale terminal and multiple cardholder mobile terminal location data points.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the same local community includes at least one of a town, city, county, country and province.

6. A managing computer system of an electronic payment system, the managing computer system comprising:

a memory device; and

a processor configured to;

store, in the memory device, a plurality of cardholder data, wherein each cardholder data, of the plurality of cardholder data, associates identification information of a cardholder mobile terminal with cardholder payment account data,

receive, via a payment network, from a point of sale terminal, from a plurality of point of sale terminals, an authorization request for processing an electronic transaction pending with a merchant, wherein the authorization request comprises at least an identifier associated with the cardholder payment account and (i) data representative of the geographic location of the point of sale terminal;

receive, from the cardholder mobile terminal, via a mobile device application installed on the cardholder mobile terminal, cardholder mobile terminal location data representative of the geographical location of the cardholder mobile terminal, wherein (i) the mobile device application enables the cardholder mobile terminal to communicate with the managing computer system (ii) the cardholder mobile terminal location data is determined by electronics of the cardholder mobile terminal, and (iii) the cardholder mobile terminal location data is received prior to the receipt of the authorization request;

store, in the memory device of the managing computer system, the cardholder mobile terminal location data, wherein the cardholder mobile terminal location data is associated with the cardholder data;

determine a radius of proximity specific to the pending electronic transaction, wherein said radius of proximity is dynamically determined, on a transaction-by-transaction basis, based on a transaction amount of a respective transaction;

obtain, from the authorization request, the data representative of the geographical location of the point of sale terminal;

obtain, from the memory device, the cardholder mobile terminal location data representative of the geographical location of the cardholder mobile terminal;

compare, the data representative of the geographical location of the point of sale terminal and the cardholder mobile terminal location data, wherein the cardholder mobile terminal location data indicates the last known location of the cardholder mobile terminal;

based on said comparison, determine if the geographical location of the point of sale terminal and the geographical location of the cardholder mobile terminal are (i) within the determined radius of proximity and (ii) within a same local community; and

in response to a determination indicating that the point of sale terminal and the cardholder mobile terminal are at least one of (i) not located within the determined radius of proximity, and (ii) not located within the same local community, communicate an alert message via the payment network to the cardholder mobile terminal, wherein the alert message flags the electronic transaction as potentially fraudulent.

7. A system according to claim 6, wherein the processor is further configured to implement the following functions:

link a network address of the cardholder mobile terminal with a unique identifier representative of a respective financial account or payment card; and

associate the associated network address and unique identifier with a financial institution host terminal.

8. A system according to claim 6, wherein the radius of proximity is a geographical area selected from one of (i) an area based on the distance between two geographical point and (ii) an area based on a fixed physical location.

9. A system according to claim 8, wherein the cardholder mobile terminal location data is received from the cardholder mobile terminal and comprises global positioning coordinates of the cardholder mobile terminal, wherein the global positioning coordinates are determined by the cardholder mobile terminal.

10. A system according to claim 6, wherein the processor is further configured to forward the authorization request to a card issuer for authorize authenticate the transaction in response to a determination indicating that the point of sale terminal and the cardholder mobile terminal are (i) located within the radius of proximity to one another and (ii) located within the same local community.

19. The managing computer system of claim 6, wherein the same local community includes at least one of a town, city, county, country and province.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable medium of a managing computer system upon which program code is stored, which, when processed by a processor of the managing computer system connected to a payment network, causes the processor of the managing computing system to perform the steps of:

storing, in a memory device of the managing computer system, a plurality of cardholder data, wherein each cardholder data, of the plurality of cardholder data, associates identification information of a cardholder mobile terminal with cardholder payment account data,

receiving, via the payment network, from a point of sale terminal, of a plurality of point of sale terminal, an authorization request for processing an electronic transaction pending with a merchant, wherein the authorization request comprises at least (i) an identifier associated with the cardholder payment account and (ii) data representative of the geographic location of the point of sale terminal;

receiving, from the cardholder mobile terminal, via a mobile device application installed on the cardholder mobile terminal, cardholder mobile terminal location data representative of the geographical location of the cardholder mobile terminal, wherein (i) the mobile device application enables the cardholder mobile terminal to communicate with the managing computer system, (ii) the cardholder mobile terminal location data is determined by electronics of the cardholder mobile terminal, and (iii) the step of receiving of the cardholder mobile terminal location data is performed prior to the step of receiving the authorization request;

storing, in the memory device of the managing computer system, the cardholder mobile terminal location data, wherein the cardholder mobile terminal location data is associated with the cardholder data;

determining a radius of proximity specific to the pending electronic transaction, wherein said radius of proximity is dynamically determined, on a transaction-by-transaction basis, based on a transaction amount of a respective transaction;

obtaining, from the authorization request, the data representative of the geographical location of a point of sale terminal connected to the payment network and associated with an electronic transaction;

obtaining, from the memory device, data representative of the geographical location of a cardholder mobile terminal associated with the electronic transaction;

comparing the data representative of the geographical location of the point of sale terminal and the cardholder mobile terminal location data, wherein the cardholder mobile terminal location data indicates the last known location of the cardholder mobile terminal;

based on said comparison, determining if the geographical location of the point of sale terminal and the geographical location of the cardholder mobile terminal are (i) within the determined radius of proximity and (ii) within a same local community, wherein the cardholder mobile terminal location data indicates the last known location of the cardholder mobile terminal; and

in response to a determination indicating that, the point of sale terminal and the cardholder mobile terminal are at least one of (i) not located within the radius of proximity to one another and (ii) not located within the same local community, communicating, from the managing computer system, an alert message via the payment network to the cardholder mobile terminal, wherein the alert message flags the electronic transaction as potentially fraudulent.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the same local community includes at least one of a town, a city, county, country and province.

17. A method of processing geographic location data method comprising the steps of:

obtaining, by a managing computer system, via a payment network, data representative of the geographical location of a point of sale terminal, from a plurality of point of sale terminals;

obtaining data representative of the geographical location of a cardholder mobile terminal, including sending a message over a network to identify the geographical location of the cardholder mobile terminal;

determining by the managing computer system, a radius of proximity specific to the pending electronic transaction, wherein said radius of proximity is dynamically determined. on a transaction-by-transaction basis, based on a transaction amount of a respective transaction;

comparing the geographical location of the point of sale terminal and of the geographical location of the cardholder mobile terminal;

based on said comparison, determining, by the managing computer system, if the geographical location of the point of sale terminal and the geographical location of the cardholder mobile terminal are (i) within the determined radius of proximity and (ii) within a same local community and

in response to a determination indicating that the point of sale terminal and the cardholder mobile terminal are at least one of (i) not located within the radius of proximity to one another and (ii) not located within the same local community, communicating, from the managing computer system, an alert message to the cardholder mobile terminal, wherein the alert message flags the electronic transaction as potentially fraudulent.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein the same local community includes at least one of a town, a city, county, country and province.