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bank posts

USAA's Deposit@Mobile app puts check deposits a mug shot away

by Chris Ziegler posted Aug 10th 2009 @ 9:17PM

The problem with banks, you see, is that they're one of the few remaining weak links in our ultimate goal of eliminating all human interaction. If you've got a check you need to deposit in your account, you've got to trek all the way out to your local branch; sure, granted, you can slip the check in an ATM, but your odds of encountering another living creature in the process of doing that are nonzero. Fortunately, USAA -- which counts military personnel as a significant percentage of its customer base -- is helping to close that loop with its "Deposit@Mobile" service, a component of its just-launched mobile banking app in the iPhone's App Store. The secret, you see, lies in the iPhones magical camera which can "take" a "picture" of the check, transmit it to USAA, and boom -- your cash is instantly deposited. No muss, no fuss, and no pesky people to get between you and your hard-earned cash. Of course, that doesn't change the fact that you've got to get the check from someone in the first place... but, you know, one thing at a time.

[Via The New York Times]

Investigators demonstrate Nokia 1100's criminal potential

by Ross Miller posted May 22nd 2009 @ 2:22AM

In case you weren't already convinced of a certain model of Nokia 1100's hackability by the exponential surge in its aftermarket value, fraud investigation firm Ultrascan has successfully recreated a virtual bank heist by reprogramming one of the devices to receive another phone number's text messages. Using this trick, shady characters in fancy suits can get your mobile transaction authentication number -- provided you live in a country like Germany or Holland that use mTANs -- and use it to get into your bank account and transfer funds. They'd also need your account name and password, mind you, but obtaining that data isn't nearly as complex when there's plenty of people clicking on the wrong emails and signing into fake website with all those deets and the associated digits. It all sounds a bit like the stuff of crime novels, doesn't it? And before you go running to eBay with that 1100 you stashed away in a drawer years ago, please note that it only works if the candybar was produced at a very specific plant in Bochum, Germany.

Japan installs cellphone jammers near ATMs to prevent fraud

by Darren Murph posted Dec 10th 2008 @ 7:53PM

If you're tired of being scammed at ATMs by kind, gentle-hearted con artists (and then forgetting it ever happened), you'll be stoked to know that Japan is looking out for you. Chiba Bank has installed phone signal jammers at four unnamed ATMs at bank branches in the Tokyo region, and while it has gone down as the first institution to go to such lengths, we highly doubt it'll be the last. It's not entirely clear what exactly the criminals were able to convince people to do via mobile, but it's probably something like "psst... get me out some cheddar and meet around back." Not that we have any experience in the field or anything...

[Via textually]

Robber holds up bank, doesn't bother to get off his cellphone

by Darren Murph posted Apr 17th 2008 @ 6:14AM

Make no mistake, we've seen some fairly boneheaded moves made by technologically-illiterate bank robbers, but the latest case involves a fellow who was quite the opposite of that. Yes, the 20 to 25 year male who decided to hold up an Alabama bank the day before his taxes were due actually did the deed without hanging up his cellphone. And there's surveillance footage to prove it. Quite honestly, we can't imagine what the conversation here would've been like, but at least he made the most of whatever minutes he had remaining as a free man, right?

[Via textually]

Cingular readying mobile banking for '07

by Chris Ziegler posted Nov 16th 2006 @ 8:59PM

Cingular would like its customers to manage what little money they don't give their carrier every month with their phones. That's the latest coming out of Cingular's Atlanta HQ, announcing that it's in talks with several unnamed banks to allow customers to "view account balances, transfer funds and pay bills" on its handsets. The system will make use of a downloadable app under development by a third party; whether this all has anything to do with a Citibank-run trial in New York City to make payments using Cingular phones, we're not sure -- but either way, we figure carriers are looking for novel ways into your wallet here.

[Thanks, Arun J.]

Read - Reuters
Read - Citibank trial