Financial fraud prevention method and system

• US 9,406,032 B2
• Filed: 12/21/2011
• Issued: 08/02/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/21/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Smartcom Labs OY
• Original Assignee: Bookit Oy Ajanvarauspalvelu
• Inventors: Salonen, Jukka
• Primary Examiner(s): Chen, George
• Application Number:
  US13/332,409
• Publication Number:
  US 20120158590A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,686 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/24 Credit schemes, i.e. "pay after"
• 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

Abstract

According to an embodiment of the present invention a method for detecting fraudulent use of credit cards is herein described. In the case when possible fraudulent use is detected the issuer or other responsible party, such as a third-party mediator, temporarily blocks the credit card account. This can be accomplished, for example, by making an artificial excess of credit limit of the credit card or otherwise temporarily closing a credit card account. In some embodiments an issuer or responsible party may send a warning message and/or alert to a client'"'"'s mobile phone informing of an upcoming temporary block of client'"'"'s credit card.

Claims

1. A method comprising performing actions on a server computer system that communicates with at least one telecommunications network, the method comprising:

performing communications relating to a potentially fraudulent transaction, the potentially fraudulent transaction involving at least one specific payment vehicle of a client and a mobile communications device, the communications device having at least one address, wherein the at least one specific payment vehicle and the at least one address are associated with the client, wherein the performing communications comprises;

receiving and/or determining information pertaining to the potentially fraudulent transaction,

generating a message to be sent based on the information on the potentially fraudulent transaction,

causing the generated message to be sent to the mobile communications device'"'"'s address from a first reply address, wherein, prior to sending the generated message, a plurality of currently available reply addresses is determined, a reply address is selected for the generated message from the plurality of currently available reply addresses, and the selected reply address is used as the first reply address,

receiving a response from the mobile communications device'"'"'s address;

positively validating the response from the mobile communications device'"'"'s address only if the response was sent to the first reply address, which was selected from the plurality of possible reply addresses;

determining if the content of the positively validated response to the first reply address confirms a suspicion of fraudulent activity, and

temporarily limiting usability of the payment vehicle until the suspicion of fraudulent activity is removed.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising causing one or more additional messages to be sent to the mobile device from a second reply address, the second reply address being selected from the same plurality of possible reply addresses as the first reply address.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the second reply address is selected from the same plurality of possible reply addresses as the first reply address with the exception of the first reply address.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the content of the one or more messages is chosen based off of the reply, or lack of reply, from the mobile device to the first message.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining if a response to the second reply address confirms the suspicion of fraudulent activity includes determining if the response to the first or second reply address is sent to the first or second reply address from the mobile device address.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising determining an assurance level for the confirmation based on the replies to the first and one or more second messages.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the determination includes determining if the response to the second reply address contains a valid response option confirming or rejecting the suspicion of fraudulent activity.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising monitoring a multiplicity of reply addresses which are currently available, selecting a reply address from the multiplicity of currently available reply addresses, and using the selected reply address as a reply address.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein determining if a response to the first reply address confirms the suspicion of fraudulent activity includes determining if the response to the first reply address is sent to the first reply address from the mobile device address and/or if the response to the first reply address contains a valid response option confirming or rejecting the suspicion of fraudulent activity.

10. A server computer system comprising a processor system, wherein the server computer system:

communicates with at least one telecommunications network;

performs communications relating to a potentially fraudulent transaction, the potentially fraudulent transaction involving at least one specific payment vehicle of a client and a mobile communications device, wherein the mobile communications device has at least one address, and wherein the at least one specific payment vehicle and the at least one address are associated with the client,

wherein the performing communications comprises;

receiving and/or determining information pertaining to the potentially fraudulent transaction,

generating a message to be sent based on the information on the potentially fraudulent transaction,

causing the generated message to be sent to the mobile communications device'"'"'s address from a first reply address, which is selected, prior to sending the generated message, from a plurality of possible reply addresses from which the server computer system is capable of sending messages and at which the server computer system is capable of receiving responses,

receiving a response from the mobile communications device'"'"'s address;

determining if the content of the positively validated response to the first reply address confirms suspicion of fraudulent activity,

temporarily limiting the usability of said payment vehicle until the suspicion of fraudulent activity is removed.

11. The server computer system of claim 10, wherein the server computer system is configured to send one or more messages to the mobile device'"'"'s address and, based on at least one reply to the one or more messages, register and/or update information about the client.

12. The server computer system of claim 10, wherein the updating the information about the client is performed in a third party database and/or by a payment vehicle issuer in an internal database.

13. The server computer system of claim 10, wherein the server computer system determines if the response to the first reply address is sent to the first reply address from the mobile device address and/or if the response to the first reply address contains a valid response option confirming or rejecting the suspicion of fraudulent activity.

14. The server computer system of claim 10, wherein the server computer system causes one or more additional messages to be sent to the mobile device from a second reply address, the second reply address being selected from the same plurality of possible reply addresses as the first reply address.

15. The server computer system of claim 10, wherein the server computer system determines if a response to the second reply address confirms the suspicion of fraudulent activity includes determining if the response to the first or second reply address is sent to the first or second reply address from the mobile device address.

16. The server computer system of claim 10, wherein the server computer system determines an assurance level for the confirmation based on the replies to the first and one or more second messages.

17. The server computer system of claim 10, wherein the server computer system determines if the response to the second reply address contains a valid response option confirming or rejecting the suspicion of fraudulent activity.

18. The server computer system of claim 10, wherein the second reply address is selected from the same plurality of possible reply addresses as the first reply address with the exception of the first reply address.

19. The server computer system of claim 10, wherein the content of the one or more messages is chosen based on the reply, or lack of reply, from the mobile device to the first message.

20. The server computer system of claim 10, wherein determining if the response to the first reply address confirms fraudulent activity includes determining if the response is a suitable response for the sent message.

21. The server computer system of claim 10, wherein temporarily limiting the usability of the payment vehicle is performed prior to, after and/or in conjunction with sending the first message.

22. A method comprising performing actions on a server computer system that communicates with at least one telecommunications network, the method comprising:

performing communications relating to a potentially fraudulent transaction, the potentially fraudulent transaction involving at least one specific payment vehicle of a client and a mobile communications device, the communications device having at least one address, wherein the at least one specific payment vehicle and the at least one address are associated with the client,

wherein said performing communications comprises;

receiving and/or determining information pertaining to the potentially fraudulent transaction,

generating a message to be sent based on the information on the potentially fraudulent transaction,

causing the message to be sent to the mobile communications device'"'"'s address from a first reply address, which is selected, prior to sending the generated message, from a plurality of possible reply addresses from which the server computer system is capable of sending messages and at which the server computer system is capable of receiving responses,

receiving a response from the mobile communications device'"'"'s address;

positively validating the response from the mobile communications device'"'"'s address only if the response was sent to the first reply address, which was selected from the plurality of possible reply addresses;

determining if the content of the positively validated response to the first reply address confirms the suspicion of fraudulent activity, and

temporarily limiting the usability of said payment vehicle until said suspicion of fraudulent activity is removed.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising sending one or more messages to the mobile device'"'"'s address and, based on at least one reply to the one or more messages, registering and/or updating information about the client.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the updating the information about the client is performed by a mediator in a third party database and/or by a payment vehicle issuer in an internal database.

25. The method of claim 22, wherein determining if the response to the first reply address confirms fraudulent activity includes determining if the response is a suitable response for the sent message.

26. The method of claim 22, further comprising accessing the mobile device'"'"'s address by sending a request to a third-party to retrieve the mobile device address.

27. The method of claim 22, further comprising accessing the mobile device'"'"'s address by retrieving the mobile device address from a database accessible by a mediator.

28. The method of claim 22, wherein temporarily limiting the usability of the payment vehicle is done prior to, after and/or in conjunction with sending the first message.

29. A server computer system comprising a processor system, wherein the server computer system:

communicates with at least one telecommunications network;

performs communications relating to a potentially fraudulent transaction, the potentially fraudulent transaction involving at least one specific payment vehicle of a client and a mobile communications device, wherein the mobile communications device has at least one address, and wherein the at least one specific payment vehicle and the at least one address are associated with the client,

wherein the performing communications comprises;

receiving and/or determining information pertaining to the potentially fraudulent transaction,

generating a message to be sent based on the information on the potentially fraudulent transaction,

causing the generated message to be sent to the mobile communications device'"'"'s address from a first reply address, which is selected, prior to sending the generated message, from a plurality of possible reply addresses from which the server computer system is capable of sending messages and at which the server computer system is capable of receiving responses,

receiving a response from the mobile communications device'"'"'s address;

positively validating the response from the mobile communications device'"'"'s address only if the response was sent to the first reply address, which was selected from the plurality of possible reply addresses;

determining if the content of the positively validated response to the first reply address confirms suspicion of fraudulent activity, and

temporarily limiting the usability of said payment vehicle until the suspicion of fraudulent activity is removed.

30. The server computer system of claim 29, wherein the server computer system monitors a multiplicity of reply addresses which are currently available to select a reply address from the multiplicity of currently available reply addresses and to use the selected reply address as a reply address.

31. The server computer system of claim 29, wherein the server computer system causes one or more additional messages to be sent to the mobile device from a second reply address, the second reply address being selected from the same plurality of possible reply addresses as the first reply address.

32. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon a set of instructions for causing a processor to perform the operations of:

receiving and/or determining that a transaction via the payment vehicle may be of a fraudulent nature;

generating a message to be sent to a client'"'"'s mobile device based on a suspicion of fraudulent activity;

causing the generated message to be sent to the mobile device'"'"'s address from a first reply address, which is selected, prior to sending the generated message, from a plurality of possible reply addresses from which the server computer system is capable of sending messages and at which the server computer system is capable of receiving responses,

positively validating the response from the mobile communications device'"'"'s address only if the response was sent to the first reply address, which was selected from the plurality of possible reply addresses;

determining if the content of the positively validated response to the first reply address confirms the suspicion of fraudulent activity; and

temporarily limiting the usability of the payment vehicle until the suspicion of fraudulent activity is removed.

33. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon a set of instructions for causing a processor to perform the operations of:

receiving and/or determining that a transaction via the payment vehicle may be of a fraudulent nature;

generating a message to be sent to a client'"'"'s mobile device based on a suspicion of fraudulent activity;

causing the generated message to be sent to the mobile device'"'"'s address from a first reply address, which is selected, prior to sending the generated message, from a plurality of possible reply addresses from which the server computer system is capable of sending messages and at which the server computer system is capable of receiving responses,

receiving a response from the mobile communications device'"'"'s address;

positively validating the response from the mobile communications device'"'"'s address only if the response was sent to the first reply address, which was selected from the plurality of possible reply addresses;

determining if the content of the positively validated response to the first reply address confirms the suspicion of fraudulent activity; and

temporarily limiting the usability of the payment vehicle until the suspicion of fraudulent activity is removed.