Systems and methods for secure authorization of electronic transactions

A transaction authorization system for performing secure electronic transactions using a wireless telephony system, said system comprising:

• a computing system, including:
• a processor;
• random access memory (RAM) coupled to said processor;
• non-volatile memory coupled to said processor;
• and
• an input/output subsystem coupled to said processor, wherein said processor, RAM and non-volatile memory are operative to retrieve and execute digitally-coded instructions stored in said non-volatile memory, and to transmit and receive information to and from remote systems via said input/output subsystem;
• and
• digitally-coded instructions stored in said non-volatile memory, said digitally-coded instructions operative to cause said computing system to perform the steps of:
• receiving a request for authorization of an electronic transaction from a vendor system, said request for authorization including a telephone number associated with a mobile device;
• transmitting, in response to receipt of said request for authorization, a request for confirmation to a messaging center associated with said wireless telephony system, said messaging center being operative to 1) transmit, in response to receipt of said request for confirmation, a message to said mobile device associated with said telephone number, said message including a request for a user of said mobile device to send a reply to said message to confirm said request for an electronic transaction, 2) receive at said messaging center a reply to said message from said mobile device, and 3) transmit said message to said transaction authorization system;
• determining, from the content of said message, whether a user of said mobile device has confirmed said electronic transaction;
• and
• transmitting, in response to a confirmation of said electronic transaction, a transaction authorization message to said vendor system.