back to article Anam introduces SMS payments

Anam Mobile and TR2 Communications have launched a service allowing cash payments over SMS, but you'll have to wait until network operators implement it before chucking the cheques. The system is certainly simple: the user just sends a text message in the form "#cash xxx.xx" to the person they want to send money to. The SMSC ( …

COMMENTS

This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. Jonathan Richards

    A quick call back?

    I hope there's more authentication and verification than "a quick call back". If not, then every mobile handset becomes an immediate portal to the owner's cash. Did I not read the other day of the hundreds of thousands of these things that people leave on buses and in taxis?

  2. Chad H.

    A fair point

    A Fair point, especialy given the Mobile Operator with todays policies will make you pay for any charges incurred between you loosing the phone, and you reporting it.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Recipe for fraud

    "Anam claims that with #cash neither party will need to be pre-registered with the service."

    That's a recipe for fraud, and one that Ofcom and FSO should swiftly step in to prevent. It's not acceptable for anybody who finds an unattended mobile to be able to pay somebody by a method that would leave no evidence about who did it.

    Some sort of enrollment procedure is clearly needed to ensure that only the billpayer can initiate payments from the phone, and even then there ought to be some sort of PIN protection to ensure that its only the billpayer who makes individual payments.

  4. Jonathan Power

    Correction!

    I'm glad this point has been made. If a party to a payment is not registered they will be prompted to register. No payment will ever be processed until BOTH parties have registered.

    Currently, this is done via IVR and you choose a PIN at registration time. It is our intention that registration will eventually be done at an ATM.

    No payment will ever be processed without a PIN check. This is done by the sender calling into an IVR and first logging on by entering their PIN.

    The security is 2-factor - something many banks still aspire to. The sender of the payment is also asked for the one-shot code texted to them on receipt of their payment request.

    At registration time you record your name. You cannot release a payment until you have heard the name of the person you are sending the payment to - which is a recording of their own voice.

    People pay people they know.

    The security in #cash is outstanding - even the banks we have spoken to regard it as better than their existing internet banking security due to the device and PIN check.

    Jonathan Power

    CEO, TR2 Communications.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Update from Anam

    Just to confirm, this service is PIN protected. Neither sender nor receiver needs to be pre-registered with their operator, instead they can sign up and get their PIN at an ATM.

    The sender must then go through PIN verification by an IVR to ensure that the transaction is secure.

    If you’d like to discuss this further, please contact us at info@anam.com

  6. simon newton

    Hahahaaha!

    This makes me laugh. This is News is it? What I'm reading is some company decided to design an application which processes the content of a 160 byte field and returns an SMS message with a premium charge attached. Given industry standard protocols and the existence of aggregators, Id say thats not rocket science, and given the fact this has absolutely ZERO network operator support right now, how on earth did it make el reg front page?

    Anam - come back when you have operator connections and agreements to make this happen. I'd be much more interested.

This topic is closed for new posts.

Other stories you might like