System and method for financial transaction authentication using travel information

• US 10,706,419 B2
• Filed: 03/28/2019
• Issued: 07/07/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 02/19/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Visa International Service Association (Visa, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Visa International Service Association (Visa, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ferguson, William M., Wickert, Steven A., Reeder, Mary A., Pathria, Anu K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Obaid, Fateh M
• Application Number:
  US16/368,380
• Publication Number:
  US 20190279209A1
• Time in Patent Office: 467 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/18 involving self-service terminals [SST], vending machines, kiosks or multimedia terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• 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 20/4016 involving fraud or risk level assessment in transaction processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03

Abstract

Systems and methods for verifying a distant-from-home financial transaction related to a customer account based on travel indicators in earlier purchase transactions made by that customer.

Claims

1. A method implementable in a computing system, comprising:

storing, by at least one processing device of a travel analysis platform, an indication of a location of a pending travel destination in a memory device, the indication of the location of the pending travel destination based at least on a posting of a travel-related financial transaction, the posting resulting from a posting transaction that triggers a money transfer from an issuer bank to a merchant bank;

receiving, by the at least one processing device, a current transaction authorization request for a current transaction from a point of service device at a merchant over a network;

determining, by the at least one processing device, that a location of the point of service device and the location of the pending travel destination obtained from the posting of the travel-related financial transaction are within a predetermined distance;

after determining that the location of the point of service device and the location of the pending travel destination are within the predetermined distance, determining, by the at least one processing device, that the current transaction is low risk by implementing by the travel analysis platform, an offline statistical modeling of variables generated from historic transaction data including the travel-related financial transation;

generating, by the at least one processing device, a transaction approval indication when the location of the point of service device and the location of the pending travel destination are within the predetermined distance; and

transmitting, by the travel analysis platform by the at least one processing device, the transaction approval indication to the point of service device and the merchant over the network.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

storing a plurality of travel transactions relating to a travel event;

determining travel characteristics for a user based on the stored plurality of travel transactions;

generating the indication of the location of the pending travel destination based on determined travel characteristics; and

populating the memory device based on the determined travel characteristics.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the travel-related financial transaction includes an airline ticket purchase.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the predetermined distance is a first predetermined distance, and wherein the method further comprises:

determining an air carrier for the current transaction;

comparing the location of the point of service device with a known destination of the determined air carrier; and

generating the transaction approval indication when the known destination of the determined air carrier is within a second predetermined distance from the location of the point of service device.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

comparing the location of the point of service device with historic transaction information; and

transmitting the transaction approval indication when the location of the point of service device matches the historic transaction information.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

generating an indication of pending travel, based on one or more transactions that are suggestive of pending travel; and

populating the memory device with the generated indication of pending travel.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

calculating a time period that the user is in a location based on at least one of distance from an airport or time between flights.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the travel-related financial transaction is conducted using one or more of a bank card, online payment or a mobile bill payment.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the travel characteristics are one or more of a flight date, flight time, arrival location, a hotel location.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

estimating a distance of travel based on a price of an airline ticket; and

transmitting the transaction approval indication when the estimated distance of travel is within a predetermined threshold of an actual distance from a residence of the user.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

using a computerized verification system, sending the transaction approval indication from the computerized verification system to a computerized payment network, wherein the transaction approval indication further comprises at least one of a risk score indicator or a binary risk indicator.

12. A computing system comprising a processor and a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising code, executable by the processor, to implement a method comprising:

storing, by at least one processing device of a travel analysis platform, an indication of a location of a pending travel destination in a memory device, the indication of the location of the pending travel destination based at least on a posting of a travel-related financial transaction, the posting resulting from a posting transaction that triggers a money transfer from an issuer bank to a merchant bank;

receiving, by the at least one processing device, a current transaction authorization request for a current transaction from a point of service device at a merchant over a network;

determining, by the at least one processing device, that a location of the point of service device and the location of the pending travel destination obtained from the posting of the travel-related financial transaction are within a predetermined distance;

after determining that the location of the point of service device and the location of the pending travel destination are within the predetermined distance, determining, by the at least one processing device, that the current transaction is low risk by impementing by the travel analysis platform, an offline statistical modeling of variables generated from historic transaction data including the travel-related financial transaction;

generating, by the at least one processing device, a transaction approval indication when the location of the point of service device and the location of the pending travel destination are within the predetermined distance; and

transmitting, by the travel analysis platform by the at least one processing device, the transaction approval indication to the point of service device and the merchant over the network.

13. The computing system of claim 12 wherein the method further comprises:

storing a plurality of travel transactions relating to a travel event;

determining travel characteristics for a user based on the stored plurality of travel transactions;

generating the indication of the location of the pending travel destination based on determined travel characteristics; and

populating the memory device based on the determined travel characteristics.

14. The computing system of claim 12, wherein the predetermined distance is a first predetermined distance, and wherein the method further comprises:

determining an air carrier for the current transaction;

comparing the location of the point of service device with a known destination of the determined air carrier; and

generating the transaction approval indication when the known destination of the determined air carrier is within a second predetermined distance from the location of the point of service device.

15. The computing system of claim 12, wherein the method further comprises:

comparing the location of the point of service device with historic transaction information; and

transmitting the transaction approval indication when the location of the point of service device matches historic transaction information.

16. The computing system of claim 12, wherein the method further comprises:

generating an indication of pending travel, based on one or more transactions that are suggestive of pending travel; and

populating the memory device with the generated indication of pending travel.

17. The computing system of claim 12, wherein the method further comprises:

calculating a time period a user is in a location based on at least one of distance from an airport or time between flights.

18. The computing system of claim 12 wherein the travel-related financial transaction is conducted using one or more of a bank card, online payment or a mobile bill payment.

19. The computing system of claim 12 wherein travel characteristics are one or more of a flight date, flight time, arrival location, or a hotel location.

20. The computing system of claim 12, wherein the method further comprises:

estimating a distance of travel based on a price of an airline ticket; and

transmitting the transaction approval indication when the estimated distance of travel is within a predetermined threshold of an actual distance from a residence of a user conducting the current transaction.