Multi-device transaction verification

#Electronic access transactions are susceptible to fraud. For example, a credit card can be stolen or fabricated, and used in a fraudulent card-present transaction at a merchant even though the true owner of the card is not present at the merchant. In another example, a person's access badge may be stolen and an unauthorized person may attempt to enter a location where they would not be otherwise authorized to enter.

#With regard to fraudulent payment transactions, it has been reported that merchants are losing over $190 billion dollars per year in credit card fraud. Further, the ability for unauthorized users to access locations or data where they are not authorized to do so can present safety and security risks.

#Increased security can be provided by simply implementing more and more authentication procedures. However, this is not desirable, because implementing too many authentication procedures can deter legitimate users from conduct legitimate transactions. For example, requiring a user to remember multiple passwords to conduct a single transaction can be so frustrating to the user, that the user may not want to conduct that transaction at all.

#FIG. 1 shows a diagram of a system and a process flow according to embodiments of the invention.

#FIG. 2 shows a diagram of a system and a process flow according to other embodiments of the invention. In the system in FIG. 2, the base station only acts as beacon and does not receive information from portable communication devices.

#FIG. 3 shows a diagram of a system and a process flow according to yet other embodiments of the invention. The system in FIG. 3 is adapted to obtain a biometric sample from a user at a location.

#Embodiments of the present invention provide techniques for verifying a transaction based upon the presence of a user's portable communication device being at a location such as a merchant location. As an illustration, in embodiments of the invention, when a user enters a merchant store with a portable communication device, the portable communication device provides an indication to a transaction processing system that the portable communication device is currently at the merchant location. At a later time, when the user conducts a transaction with a portable transaction device (which may be separate and different from the portable communication device), the fact that the user's portable communication device had been detected at the merchant store a short time ago is taken into account as a positive indicator that the transaction is not fraudulent. Embodiments of the invention can verify that both the portable communication device and the portable transaction device are present at the merchant before transactions can be authorized, thereby reducing the risk that fraudulent transactions can be conducted.

#According to some embodiments, a process for verifying a transaction may include receiving device information from a portable communication device, and receiving an authorization request message from an access device to conduct a transaction. The authorization request message may include account credentials read from a portable transaction device and a merchant identifier associated with a merchant. The process may determine if the portable communication device is at the same merchant as the portable transaction device, and may include verifying the transaction.

#Other embodiments of the invention relate to the use of biometric templates in authenticating access transactions such as payment transactions.