UK Sets Down Anti-Fraud Guidelines for Mobile Payments

­The potential for mobile phones to be used as payment wallets has lead to the UK Government setting up a team to ensure fraud is not a significant problem. The new technology, which will allow customers to buy things by swiping them over sensors is being trialled by phone companies and banks in the UK. In an effort to design out opportunities for crime and reduce harm to consumers the government has been working with industry to ensure the technology builds in tough security measures at the earliest stages.

Working with the government, the mobile phone and banking industry have agreed to a set of guidelines.

Apart from the obvious issues, such as disabling payments from stolen phones, they have also agreed that that any transactions above the maximum contactless payment value (currently £10) will require verification, such as a pin code.

Home Office Minister, Alan Campbell said, 'These guidelines are an important step forward in protecting the public from criminals. I am pleased that the mobile and banking industries have worked with us to ensure that the public are protected at the earliest opportunity."

Near Field Communication is a technology that enables contactless payment, where mobile phones are used as credit or debit cards. Trials of this technology, where mobile phones permit contactless payments, are already advanced in many countries. In Japan mobiles are being used as house keys and in Germany, supermarkets are trialling barcode scanning and automated payment using mobiles. In the UK, several financial institutions have recently announced trials of contactless payment using mobile phones; both Barclays and the Royal Bank of Scotland have trialled phone featuring Visa 'payWave' and MasterCard PayPass technology.

Posted to the site on 28th August 2009