When thieves steal or clone a credit card, the first thing they do with it is buy something easy-to-carry yet expensive, like jewellery or electronic goods. Now British company Swivel Technologies has outlined a simple but clever way to foil them (WO 03/012755).
When the shop swipes the credit card, the bank’s computer automatically sends an SMS text message to the legitimate card-holder’s cellphone, detailing the purchase request. If the transaction is genuine, the card-holder okays it by replying to the text message with a secret PIN. If the transaction is fraudulent, no ‘OK’ is sent. The sale is then blocked and the card-owner is…
