Cellphone Payments More Secure

MoPay, which was introduced into the market last year and presently has some 134 vendors signed up, allows business owners to get paid by clients without using the conventional Speedpoint credit card swipe machine. This means even business owners such as plumbers or flea market vendors will be able to accept credit and debit card payments without needing to purchase a Speedpoint. Previously clients or customers using the MoPay system, followed voice prompts to pay business owners. However, the service providers recent introduction of an SMS or text cheque will now allow owners to send or receive payment from anywhere in the world. Cobus Potgieter, who owns MoPay along with a business partner and a number of technological and international companies including Visa, Mastercard and IBM computers, says this has special implications for exporters, who often need to get quick payment to clients in overseas countries. Potgieter says typically a supplier will send an SMS to a business owner with payment required details the person paying will select the amount to be paid, the date he wants the payment to be processed and activate the transaction using his pin number as well as the business owners assigned MoPay number. He says once the MoPay service has authenticated the identity of the parties and authorised the payment, both the merchant and the person paying get a payment confirmation message of their choice. A vendor subscribes to MoPay for R200 a month after an initial R200 signing-on fee. They then get a unique vendor number to receive payment from a client. Potgieter points out that debit orders, using MoPay will also be more flexible then the conventional card, as business owners will be able to easily change details such as payment amounts and payment transfer dates. He says not only does MoPay mean not having to stand in a queue, but making payments over a cellphone is much more secure than on the internet or at an ATM. However, he says to guard against the possibility of thieves using a customer or business owners, stolen phone to make or receive MoPay payments, they intend to introduce an identification-authenticating system. Potgieter says local banks will start using the MoPay service soon. He says a similar cheque and debit card system to MoPay, was launched in Europe in August and has been running in Brazil since March last year.