The Paypers. Insights in payments.

Rixty, Coinstar to roll out youth-oriented online payment service Monday 30 March 2009 | 08:21 AM CET


US alternative payments services provider Rixty has teamed up with e-payment systems developer Coinstar to launch an online payment service for US teenagers.

Under the terms of the agreement, starting May 2009, US unbanked teenagers will be able to pay for their purchases online on any of Rixty's partner platforms (online games and virtual worlds) by using Coinstar kiosks to add funds to their online Rixty accounts. After purchasing a Rixty voucher at a Coinstar kiosk, customers enter the PIN of the voucher online to add funds to their online Rixty spending account.

Rixty has revealed future plans to also offer prepaid cards to almost 32 million potential users in the 13 to 24 unbanked consumer segment. These prepaid cards can be linked to Rixty online accounts. There are almost 10,000 Coinstar kiosks in grocery stores, convenience stores, and shopping malls across the US.

Coinstar operates self-service coin-counting machines, entertainment services machines and e-payment-enabled coin-counting machines. The company provides e-payment services, including money transfer services, activating and reloading value on prepaid wireless accounts; selling stored value cards and loading prepaid debit cards and prepaid phone cards. Rixty online payment services enable teenagers young adults ages 13 to 24+ to spend their cash online.

rixty, coinstar, alternative payments, prepaid

NYTimes.com

Bank of America effectively set up a branch in a Long Island office that helped Nicholas Cosmo carry out a $380 million Ponzi scheme, according to a class-action lawsuit filed in federal court, The New York Times’s Leslie Wayne reported.

The lawsuit, filed in Federal District Court in Brooklyn late Thursday, contends that Bank of America “established, equipped and staffed” a branch office in the headquarters of Mr. Cosmo’s firm, Agape Merchant Advance. As a result, the lawsuit contends that the bank knowingly “assisted, facilitated and furthered” Mr. Cosmo’s fraudulent scheme.

“Bank of America was at the epicenter of this scheme,” said the lawsuit, which seeks $400 million in damages from the bank and other defendants. “Without Bank of America’s participation, the scheme would not have succeeded and grown to such an enormous size.”

Mr. Cosmo surrendered to authorities at a Long Island train station in January in connection with a suspected Ponzi scheme involving what Mr. Cosmo called “private bridge loans” that promised investors returns of 48 percent to 80 percent a year. Many of his 1,500 investors were blue-collar workers and civil servants.

Bank of America declined to comment, saying that it had not yet seen the suit.

According to the suit, representatives of Bank of America worked directly out of Mr. Cosmo’s West Hempstead office, which was about 30 miles from the branch where Agape and Mr. Cosmo maintained their bank accounts. In addition, Bank of America provided on-site representatives at Agape with bank equipment and computer systems that allowed direct access to the bank’s accounts and systems, the suit said.

“Essentially, Bank of America established a fully functional bank branch manned by its own representatives within Agape’s offices, which is contrary to normal banking practices,” the lawsuit said. As a result, the bank’s representatives had “actual knowledge” that Mr. Cosmo was “diverting money to his own account” and “engaging in virtually no legitimate business whatsoever.”

Continue Reading at NY Tiimes

SizzleMoney is a unique mobile phone and prepaid card product that allows access to money, payment services and payroll distribution through an innovative and easy to use SMS-based service. SizzleMoney is the first mobile transaction product to focus on community money sharing.

Enid, Oklahoma (PRWEB) March 27, 2009 -- SizzleMoney™ might just be the hottest thing to hit the stored value market in years.

Sure a cell phone can be used to surf the Web, send emails and update a MySpace page, but can it really be used to buy a pair of jeans or a baseball cap? With a new product just released by Denarii Payments, Inc., it can.

Denarii's approach to the prepaid card business is revolutionary
Their model combines mobile payment technology with our expertise as an issuing bank and as an electronic transaction processor. That means the end user enjoys nearly all of the financial conveniences afforded to anyone with a bank account.
Our goal is to grow our company by introducing the benefits of SizzleMoney to one neighborhood at a time.
ISizzle Representatives are our valued pathway to an underserved, cash-based society
Through their grasp of changing culture, technology and customs, they will help older family members, friends, and neighbors obtain mainstream financial services.
SizzleMoney is a unique mobile phone and prepaid card product that was recently launched by Denarii and issued by Central National Bank of Enid. The bank's subsidiary, Interactive Transaction Services (ITS®), is the processor.

The product allows access to money, payment services and payroll distribution through an innovative and easy to use SMS-based service. SizzleMoney is the first mobile transaction product to focus on community money sharing.

"Denarii's approach to the prepaid card business is revolutionary," said Brud Baker, president and CEO of Central National Bank. "Their model combines mobile payment technology with our expertise as an issuing bank and as an electronic transaction processor. That means the end user enjoys nearly all of the financial conveniences afforded to anyone with a bank account."

With SizzleMoney, customers can make purchases using their mobile phone. To buy a meal at Pete's Burger Shack, the customer simply uses an SMS short code to send a message that says, "Pay 7.85 to 508 987-65432". This number is Pete's Burger Shack's mobile alias, a computer generated secure number that uses the customer's cell number plus a random "wild card" that protects the client from fraud. " Pete's Burger Shack then gets a text message on their registered mobile phone that confirms that the bill has been paid. The actual payment is made by transferring money from the customer's SizzleMoney account to the merchant's SizzleMoney account.

Because the SizzleMoney pin card is branded with Maestro, Pulse, Star and Cirrus, it can also be used to make purchases at most merchants who have PIN pads or at an ATM to get cash. There is also an option to upgrade to a personalized MasterCard®.

In addition to making purchases, SizzleMoney customers may also share money with friends, family and neighbors. They even have the convenience of transferring money to a non-SizzleMoney customer in foreign countries utilizing the built-in remittance functionality of the program. This can all be done by sending a secure, dual-authentication text message from the comfort of their home.

According to Donald Baggett, Founder and CEO of Denarii Payments, Inc., SizzleMoney is geared towards first generation immigrants new to the United States. These individuals, he said, share with and support family members abroad.

"Our goal is to grow our company by introducing the benefits of SizzleMoney to one neighborhood at a time."

To facilitate that growth, SizzleMoney will utilize iSizzle Representatives that Baggett describes as neighborhood-based young adults. They are proactive individuals who are often college students with entrepreneurial spirits, he said. They will purchase SizzleMoney kits at a wholesale price and sell them in their neighborhood or on college campuses. These individuals will also be able to make account additions by transferring money from their own SizzleMoney account.

"ISizzle Representatives are our valued pathway to an underserved, cash-based society," Baggett said. "Through their grasp of changing culture, technology and customs, they will help older family members, friends, and neighbors obtain mainstream financial services."

About Interactive Transaction Services
As a subsidiary of Central National Bank of Enid, Oklahoma, Interactive Transaction Services was established to provide program management, marketing, sales, delivery, and processing services for the prepaid card products of CNB, as well as program owners. For more information about any of the ITS products, contact Tania Warnock by phone at 580-213-1762. http://itsvcs.com/

About Central National Bank
Central National Bank of Enid is an FDIC-insured financial institution headquartered in Oklahoma and is held by Central Services Corporation. There are eight branch locations throughout the state. The bank reported assets of almost $520 million as of December 31, 2008. CNB has been providing electronic services to other financial institutions for over 20 years and issuing and processing prepaid cards since 2002. www.cnb-ok.com

About Denarii Payments, Inc.
Denarii developed SizzleMoneytm to respond to the demands of working families who need an easy to use safe and secure method of electronic commerce and money sharing.

SizzleMoneytm is a community-centric mobile financial service that enables anyone to exchange funds and make retail purchases through our secure text messaging service.

SizzleMoneytm works on any cell phone and on most cellular networks in the U.S. Our accounts are FDIC insured and have no minimum balance requirements and, more importantly, have no hidden fees. Our modest transaction fees are "pay as you go" charging only for what is used. Our neighborhood iSizzle Representatives or local participating merchants are available to assist in opening new accounts and making additions for active SizzleMoneytm customers. Visit www.sizzlemoney.com for more information.

# # #

By Brian Boyce
The Tribune-Star

TERRE HAUTE — Believe it or not, people around the world are working this very moment just to be you.

According to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s annual Consumer Sentinel Report, 2008 was a banner year for fraud and identity theft rings. And when asked about it, local officials offered the same advice: “If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.”

“With the economy the way it is, you’re going to see more of the same,” warned Vigo County Prosecutor Terry Modesitt. “People are trying to steal. That’s what it is.”

According to the FTC’s 98-page report released in February, 1.2 million complaints of fraud were lodged between January and December of 2008, with 26 percent categorized as “identity theft.”

In 2007, 1,050,229 total fraud complaints were issued, with 25 percent in the identity theft category, compared to the 2006 figure of 890,066 in 2006, of which 28 percent targeted identities.

Something for nothing is usually a fraud

“If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is,” said Steve Herndon, vice president of compliance and security at First Financial Bank.

Herndon said local banks have been training employees on how to spot the numerous attempts at fraud, which usually run along consistent themes.

“All involve the potential victim receiving a check in the mail and then being asked to deposit it and send some type of wire transfer back,” he said, describing the “secret shopper” scam.

“Secret shoppers” receive a check in the mail with instructions to cash it at a local bank and use the money to purchase a variety of items at local stores, Herndon explained.

After completing a customer satisfaction survey, the shopper then wires back a portion of the money.

But, invariably, the check is counterfeit and bounces at the local bank, leaving the depositor on the hook.

“The person who endorsed the check is ultimately responsible for that item,” Herndon said, noting that once the remaining money has been wired back to the group, it’s extremely difficult to trace.

“The paying agent is somewhat similar,” he said, describing an offer one might receive to serve as an agent for a foreign government needing to exchange currencies. Again, the victim is issued a counterfeit check and asked to wire U.S. funds back to the group in exchange for a commission.

“We’re still seeing some of that lottery stuff going on, too,” Herndon added, again describing a similar concept in which a person receives notification he’s won a foreign lottery and needs to wire money to access the funds. “The key thing is to use common sense. Why, with the way banking transactions are handled these days, would someone outside the country need me to handle the transfer for them? There are a lot of red flags in those scams.”

According to the FTC report, 15,159 cases of fraud were reported in Indiana during 2008. Of those cases, third-party and creditor debt collection was the No. 1 complaint (11 percent), followed by fraudulent prizes and lotteries (7 percent), then Internet services (6 percent), shop-at-home services (6 percent) and foreign money offers with counterfeit checks (5 percent).

Contiinue Reading at the TribStar

DALLAS, TX and ST. PETERSBURG, FL -- 03/30/09 -- Chase Paymentech, a leading merchant acquirer and payment processor, and Revolution Money Inc., operator of the RevolutionCard(TM) payment network, today announced that Chase Paymentech's state-of-the-art processing platforms now enable the acceptance of RevolutionCard transactions for online and retail merchants. Revolution Money currently operates the largest PIN-based acceptance network for credit card purchase transactions in the U.S.

As one of the world's leading merchant acquirers, Chase Paymentech provides merchant services to many of the world's best known brands, processing an estimated half of all internet transactions. By working with Chase Paymentech, Revolution Money's market position and broad acceptance is solidified with both retail and online merchants.

"This alliance underscores our commitment to providing our merchants with the most competitive payment solutions available," said Diane Donoghue, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Retail Network Services for Chase Paymentech. "Combining our leadership position in the payments industry with the unique capabilities represented by RevolutionCard gives our merchants an extraordinary opportunity to expand the payment choices available to their customers."

By accepting RevolutionCard -- the first PIN-based credit card network for purchases in the U.S. -- merchants can improve their total cost of accepting payments and provide their customers with a new payment method that is both convenient and secure.

"Thanks to our agreement with Chase Paymentech, Revolution Money can now help more merchants improve their payment economics," said Jason Hogg, Founder and CEO, Revolution Money. "RevolutionCard accountholders can take advantage of the great savings and value offers we create with many of their favorite stores and enjoy the highest level of identity theft protection. Chase Paymentech and Revolution Money joining forces is welcomed news for anyone interested in safe and cost-effective commerce."

About Chase Paymentech

Chase Paymentech, a business unit of JPMorgan Chase, is a global leader in payment processing and merchant acquiring, capable of authorizing transactions in more than 130 currencies. The company's proprietary platforms provide access to a wide variety of payment methods, such as credit cards, debit cards, prepaid stored value cards and electronic check processing. Offering secure payment solutions, improving cash-flow management, mitigating risk and accelerating funding -- Chase Paymentech's consultative approach helps today's small and emerging businesses become tomorrow's industry leaders. On the Internet or at the point of sale, Chase Paymentech's unique combination of outstanding service, innovative solutions and financial strength offers solid benefits to companies both large and small. More information can be found at www.chasepaymentech.com.

About Revolution Money Inc.

Revolution Money is a payments company committed to delivering extraordinary value to both merchants and consumers. The RevolutionCard network eliminates costly interchange, providing merchants with enormous cost savings, while consumers gain unparalleled payment flexibility, rewards and protection from identity theft and fraud. Founded in 2005, Revolution Money is a member of the Revolution LLC family of companies. For more information, log on to www.RevolutionMoney.com.

Contacts:
James Wester
Chase Paymentech
877-843-5631
Email Contact

Brad Burns
Revolution Money
202-776-1400
Email Contact


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