Secure telewire process for authorizing wire transfers

• US 7,983,970 B1
• Filed: 05/22/2006
• Issued: 07/19/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/22/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intermex Wire Transfer LLC (International Money Express, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Intermex Wire Transfer LLC (International Money Express, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ostler, Randall S., Ibarra, Alberto, Schnaider, Geraldine
• Primary Examiner(s): Colbert; Ella
• Assistant Examiner(s): Shaikh; Mohammad Z
• Application Number:
  US11/438,574
• Time in Patent Office: 1,884 Days
• Field of Search: 705 35- 42
• US Class Current: 705/35
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03

Abstract

Methods and systems for automatic verification and/or authorization of wire transfers by a telewire service provider are described. In one embodiment, a wire transfer agency database stores agency information including verified telephone numbers for each agency. When a wire transfer order is placed from a verified telephone number, automatic number identification transmitted with the telephone call is detected, the order is only allowed to be processed automatically if that telephone number in the database matches the calling agency, and the order receipt is successfully sent to that agency. Because the agency has been automatically associated with the order, the possibility of fraud and/or error is decreased, and the wire transfer can be automatically authorized after a delay time allowing the agency to issue changed instructions. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Claims

1. A wire transfer system comprising:

an agent information database;

a wire transfer order database;

an order-taking engine to receive data directly from a wire transfer client who is not an agent for a new telephone order into the wire transfer order database;

the order taking engine comprising at least one computer system;

an agent verification engine that captures automatic number identification for the calling station of the telephone order, attempts to match the automatic number identification to an agent calling station in the agent information database, and, when a match occurs, automatically supplies agent information from the database to the order-taking engine;

a receipt engine to generate an order receipt for the wire transfer order and electronically forward the order receipt to an agent receipt address stored with the agent information, the receipt engine generating an indication when the order receipt has been successfully forwarded to the agent receipt address; and

an authorization engine to, when the agent has been verified by the agent verification engine, automatically authorize the wire transfer at a selected time after the indication that the order receipt was successfully forwarded.

2. The wire transfer system of claim 1, the agent information database maintaining status indicating whether wire transfer orders from the agent are allowed to be automatically authorized when the agent has been verified by the agent verification engine.

3. The wire transfer system of claim 1, wherein the wire transfer order database indicates for the telephone order, when the agent is verified and wire transfer orders from the agent are allowed to be automatically authorized, that the wire transfer order is allowed to be automatically authorized.

4. The wire transfer system of claim 3, the authorization engine automatically authorizing the wire transfer at the selected time when the automatic authorization is allowed for the wire transfer order in the wire transfer order database.

5. The wire transfer system of claim 3, wherein the receipt engine indicates on the generated order receipt whether automatic authorization is allowed based on whether automatic authorization is allowed for the wire transfer order in the wire transfer order database.

6. The wire transfer system of claim 1, further comprising an automatic agent update engine that updates the agent information database based on the automatic number identification when the order-taking engine receives dam for a telephone order from an unverified agent calling station but a valid agent.

7. The wire transfer system of claim 6, wherein the telephone order is not allowed to be automatically authorized when the automatic number identification indicates that the unverified agent calling station is associated with a telephonic area code associated with a different state than that of the valid agent.

8. The wire transfer system of claim 6, the automatic agent update engine verifying an unverified agent calling station as associated with the agent after a selected number of successful wire transfer orders, from different clients, are received from the agent calling station.

9. The wire transfer system of claim 1, wherein the order receipt comprises a facsimile, and electronic forwarding of the order receipt comprises facsimile transmission to an agent facsimile telephone number.

10. The wire transfer system of claim 9, wherein the receipt engine is a facsimile server that is also capable of receiving return facsimile receipts from an agent, and wherein the authorization engine compares the agent facsimile telephone number to which an order receipt is transmitted to an automatic number identification of a corresponding return facsimile receipt to facilitate authorization of a wire order.

11. The wire transfer system of claim 1, wherein telephone authorization of a wire transfer order is allowed, the authorization engine comparing an automatic number identification for the agent calling station from which the telephone authorization is being attempted to the verified agent calling stations in the agent information database to facilitate authorization of a wire order.

12. The wire transfer system of claim 1, wherein the agent information database, wire transfer order database, agent verification engine, and authorization engine reside on a common server system.

13. The wire transfer system of claim 1, further comprising a private branch exchange in communication with a plurality of order-taking stations, each comprising an operator calling station and an order-taking engine endpoint, wherein the private branch exchange queues incoming telephone orders for the order-taking stations, and associates automatic number identification for each incoming telephone order with the order-taking station assigned to that incoming telephone order.

14. The wire transfer system of claim 13, wherein the private branch exchange associates the automatic number identification for the incoming telephone order with the order-taking station assigned to that order by writing the automatic number identification to a selected file on a file server, wherein the selected file has a filename associated with the assigned order-taking station.

15. The wire transfer station of claim 14, wherein the private branch initiates an erasure process for the automatic number identification from the selected file when the incoming telephone order call is terminated.

16. A method of processing telephone wire transfer orders, the method comprising:

receiving a new telephone order from a wire transfer client, other than an agent, located at a calling station, and an automatic number identification for the calling station;

receiving data for the telephone order into a wire transfer order database;

attempting to match using at least one server, the automatic number identification for the calling station with an agent calling station in an agent information database;

when the automatic number identification for the calling station matches a verified agent calling station in the agent information database, and the agent information database indicates that automatic authorization of wire orders for the agent calling station is allowed, marking the telephone order data in the wire transfer order database accordingly;

generating and electronically forwarding an order receipt for a wire transfer to the agent associated with the telephone order;

generating a notification when the order receipt has been successfully forwarded to the agent associated with the telephone order; and

for a wire transfer associated with an agent calling station for which automatic authorization is allowed, automatically authorizing the wire transfer at a selected time after the notification is generated.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein when the automatic number identification for the calling station matches an agent calling station in the agent information database, supplying agent information from the agent information database to an operator handling the telephone order.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein when the automatic number identification for the calling station does not match an agent calling station in the agent information database, retrieving agent information from the agent information database for a manually supplied agent identifier, and comparing the state indicated in the agent address information with the state associated with the automatic number identification of the calling station.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising disallowing automatic authorization of the telephone order when the state indicated in the agent address information does not match the state associated with the automatic number identification of the calling station.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising, when the state indicated in the agent address information matches the state associated with the automatic number identification of the calling station, assigned the automatic number identification to the agent information in the database, marked as pending authorization.

21. The method of claim 16, wherein the agent information database saves unverified calling station numbers and associated agency information in the agent information database for calling stations when a wire transfer order is received from a calling station that does not already exist in the agent information database.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising changing the state of an unverified calling station number in the agent information database to verified after a selected number of successful wire transfer orders, from different clients, are received from the agent calling station.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising, when changing the state of an unverified calling station number to verified and automatic authorization of wire orders is permitted for other calling station numbers associated with the same agency in the agent information database, indicating that automatic authorization of wire orders for the calling station number is allowed.

24. The method of claim 16, further comprising rejecting a telephone order when a caller indicates that they are calling from an agency other than the agency associated with the automatic number identification in the agent information database.

25. The method of claim 16, wherein the order receipt comprises a facsimile, and electronic forwarding of the order receipt comprises facsimile transmission to an agent facsimile telephone number.

26. The method of claim 24, further comprising receiving a return facsimile receipt from the agent for the wire transfer, and an associated return facsimile automatic number identification, and comparing the agent facsimile telephone number to which the order receipt was transmitted to the automatic number identification of the return facsimile receipt to facilitate authorization of a wire order.

27. The method of claim 16, wherein telephone authorization of a wire transfer order is allowed, the method further comprising comparing an automatic number identification for the agent calling station from which the telephone authorization is being attempted to the verified agent calling stations in the agent information database to facilitate authorization of a wire order.

28. The method of claim 16, further comprising queuing the telephone order for a selected order-taking station in a plurality of such stations, and associating the automatic number identification for the telephone with the selected order-taking station.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein associating the automatic number identification for the telephone order with the order-taking station selected for that order comprises writing the automatic number identification to a selected file on a file server, wherein the selected file has a filename associated with the selected order-taking station.

30. The method of claim 29, further comprising erasing the automatic number identification from the selected file when the telephone order call is terminated.