The following is a reprint of an article written by Claes Bell that originally appeared in Bankrate.com’s Banking Blog on August 30, 2012:
Batman has his batarang, Dirty Harry his .44 magnum and Brooklynite Dina Wohlhendler has her … mobile banking text alerts?
In what might be the first case of mobile-banking vigilantism, Wohlhendler was shopping in Manhattan when she noticed her wallet was missing from her purse. Then, text alerts from her bank started hitting her phone, letting her know that someone was racking up sizable purchases at nearby retailers on her debit card.
Using the bank notifications and a little bit of intuition, she tracked the alleged thief to a Best Buy in midtown. From Sandy Eller at Vos Iz Neias:
Going back out onto 5th Avenue, Mrs. Wohlhendler began walking uptown hoping to somehow spot the thief on her own, when she noticed a Best Buy located one block to the north. Acting on instinct, she entered the store where she observed a woman, holding an Urban Outfitters bag, purchasing a cellphone. Coming closer to the shopper, she noticed the name on the credit card being offered to the cashier was none other than her own.
“I started yelling at her,” said Mrs. Wohlhendler. ”At first she denied that the card was mine, but then she started yelling at me. She started running away towards the back of the store, but I ran after her, calling for security. She started throwing the merchandise from Urban Outfitters at me, then some cash, then my wallet, screaming ‘Here is your stuff back, it is just a mix-up.’”
Best Buy security detained the woman and insisted that the pair wait for police to clarify the matter.
A lot of people worry about the security of mobile banking, but this incident makes a strong case for mobile banking as a security-enhancing feature. While you probably won’t end up using it to dramatically foil a thief, mobile banking can help you keep tabs on your account so you can report suspicious activity to your bank quickly.
That’s the key, because consumer protection laws shift more liability to the customer as time goes on. The more time that elapses between when the crime occurs and when you report it, the more you’ll likely end up having to pay.
The Clairmail Solution from Monitise empowers financial institutions to proactively generate and send real-time mobile fraud alerts to their customers and enable them to instantly take action. To learn more, click here.
The $7.1 billion banking organization is using Clairmail Inc. to broaden its mobile banking capabilities, which are currently limited to mobile web, said Blotkamp.
“After several years of technology-driven expectations, mobile banking is finally seeing sustained traction in the United States, and banks have rolled out support broad enough to enable consumers with nearly any mobile device to access basic banking functionality,” said Brad Strothkamp, vice-president, principal analyst, eBusiness and Channel Strategy, Forrester Research. “As consumers gain confidence with the channel, their needs are shifting from simple functionality like account balances and ATM locators to transactions like bill payment and account transfers.”
Due to heightened government scrutiny on traditional fee income, a poor economy and negative publicity, financial institutions (FIs) face tremendous pressure to fill revenue gaps.