US 7,246,740 B2 · Suspicious persons database

Abstract

Most financial transactions involving check deposits and cashing at automatic teller machines are often associated with high risk. Although conventional security measures for many automatic teller machines record financial transactions, the recorded events are typically viewed after suspicious or criminal activity has already occurred. Therefore, a financial institution may not know in advance whether requested financial transactions are of suspicious or fraudulent intent. The present teachings relate to a method of scoring customers prior to authorization in a manner so as to identify suspicious behavior or suspicious activity. The method also relates to marking suspicious individuals by storing related transaction information, such as biometric data, in a database for purposes of verifying identification information and scoring the validity of future financial transactions.

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Drawings

Claims20

Dependent claims

A method of processing financial transactions from a customer at an unmanned location, the method comprising:

acquiring customer identification information from at least one customer;
acquiring transaction information associated with one or more previous financial transactions performed by the customer, wherein the transaction information comprises information about a financial instrument and wherein the transaction information is different than the customer identification information;
determining suspicious activity associated with the one or more previous financial transactions by identifying one or more validation errors in the transaction information wherein the validation errors comprise at least one of the group consisting of amount mismatch, fraudulent endorsement, magnetic ink not detected, altered magnetic ink recognition number, altered payee, negotiable instrument identified as stolen, negotiable instrument identified as stop pay, negotiable instrument identified as already cashed, Mod 10 validation failure, credit header validation failure, negotiable instrument type mismatch, postdated negotiable instrument, negotiable instrument date mismatch, and negotiable instrument does not exist in positive pay file;
calculating a suspicious activity score for the customer wherein the suspicious activity score is based at least in part on the validation errors such that the suspicious activity score is indicative of a level of suspicion associated with the one or more previous financial transactions performed by the customer;
storing the suspicious activity score in a database wherein the database associates the suspicious activity score with the customer identification information that identifies the customer;
acquiring customer identification information and transaction information for a current financial transaction;
determining suspicious activity associated with the current financial transaction by identifying one or more validation errors in the transaction information associated with the current financial transaction;
using the customer identification information to retrieve the suspicious activity score stored in the database that is indicative of a level of suspicion associated with the one or more previous financial transactions conducted by the consumer;
modifying the suspicious activity score based at least in part on validation errors in the transaction information associated with the current financial transaction;
and
authorizing the current financial transaction based at least in part on the whether the suspicious activity score is acceptable.

8 more elements

A system for processing financial transactions from customers at an unmanned location, the system comprising:

an interactive component positioned at the unmanned location, wherein the interactive component is configured to obtain transaction information relating to a financial transaction performed by a customer, wherein the transaction information comprises information about a financial instrument and wherein the interactive component is further configured to obtain customer identification information that identifies the customer, wherein the customer identification information is different than the transaction information;
a calculating component that generates a suspicious activity score for the customer wherein the suspicious activity score is based at least in part on one or more validation errors in the transaction information and wherein the suspicious activity score is indicative of a level of suspicion associated with customer activity and wherein the calculating component periodically modifies the suspicious activity score based on the customer activity, wherein the validation errors comprise at least one of the group consisting of amount mismatch, fraudulent endorsement, magnetic ink not detected, altered magnetic ink recognition number, altered payee, negotiable instrument identified as stolen, negotiable instrument identified as stop pay, negotiable instrument identified as already cashed, Mod 10 validation failure, credit header validation failure, negotiable instrument type mismatch, postdated negotiable instrument, negotiable instrument date mismatch, and negotiable instrument does not exist in positive pay file;
a storage component that records the suspicious activity score and associates the suspicious activity score with the customer identification information;
and
a processing component that receives transaction information from the interactive component and identifies suspicious activity relating to a current financial transaction by obtaining the customer identification information associated with the current financial transaction and accessing the recorded suspicious activity score in the storage component associated with the customer identification information and by modifying the suspicious activity score based at least in part on validation errors in the transaction information associated with the current financial transaction.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Description10,401 words

Summary1,806 words

#1. Field of the Invention

#The present invention relates to financial transactions and, in particular, to a system and method of identifying and logging suspicious behavior or suspicious activity during financial transactions.

#2. Description of the Related Art

Brief description of the drawings7 figures

#FIG. 1 illustrates one embodiment of a financial transaction involving a customer, an interactive transaction device, a check cashing service having a suspicious persons database, and plurality of financial institutions.

#FIG. 2A illustrates one embodiment of the suspicious persons database in FIG. 1 having a plurality of customer related records.

#FIG. 2B illustrates another embodiment of the suspicious persons database, wherein a customer record database tracks registered customers and the suspicious persons database tracks suspicious customers.

Detailed description8,376 words

#Reference will now be made to the drawings, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout. FIG. 1 illustrates one embodiment of a financial transaction involving a customer 100, an interactive transaction device 102, and a checking service provider 104. In addition, FIG. 1 further illustrates a plurality of financial institutions that may be involved in the financial transaction including a clearing house 120, such as the Federal Clearing House (FCH) or Automated Clearing House (ACH), a customer's financial institution 122, and a check issuer's financial institution 124. In one aspect, it should be appreciated that the financial institutions as described herein may be referred to as or include financial entities, organizations, systems, banks, various banking institutions, etc. without departing from the scope of the present teachings. It should also be appreciated that the customer 100 may be referred to as or include a check presenter or check depositor without departing from the scope of the present teachings. Moreover, it should also be appreciated that the customer's financial institution 122 and the check issuer's financial institution 124 may be one in the same without departing from the scope of the present teachings.

#In one embodiment, the interactive transaction device 102 may comprise an automatic teller machine (ATM), an advanced function kiosk, or a point of sale (POS) device. The interactive transaction device 102 may be located at various merchant locations, such as retailers, convenience stores, check cashing service locations, gas stations, etc. In addition, the interactive transaction device 102 may also comprise an unmanned terminal, such as an ATM machine, that may be remotely located some distance from one or more of the financial institutions. Various methods of check cashing and depositing may involve the checking service provider 104 or check guarantor, which provides access to the interactive transaction devices 102, a customer 100, such as a depositor or check casher, and one or more of the financial institutions 120, 122, 124. In addition, it should be appreciated that the interactive transaction device 102 may comprise a plurality of interactive transaction devices 102 without departing from the scope of the present teachings. It should also be appreciated that the checking service provider 104 may comprise a check cashing service.

#In one embodiment, the interactive transaction device 102 may be equipped with various data acquisition components, such as a check reader, magnetic card reader, and a keyboard. The check reader component of the interactive transaction device 102 may be used to identify, by either magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) or optical character recognition (OCR), the customer's name and signature, an account number, a check amount, a check date, and the American Banking Association (ABA) routing number printed on the face of the paper drafted check. The keyboard component may be used by the customer 100 to input other identification information, such as a social security number and a driver's license number. The magnetic card reader may be used to scan an ATM card or a driver's license for identification purposes. It should be appreciated that further description relating to interactive POS devices are described in the Applicant's co-pending U.S. patent application entitled “Data Validation Systems and Methods for Use in Financial Transactions” application Ser. No. 10/671,000, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

Facts

Application

10/813,915Filed 31 Mar 2004 · us provisional application

Priority

3 Apr 2003

Published

US 2004/0245330 A19 Dec 2004

Granted

24 Jul 2007

Term ended

6 Nov 2024

Estimated · how

20 years from earliest known nonprovisional domestic filing plus recorded patent term adjustment, including 220 days of adjustment. Maintenance-fee lapses, terminal disclaimers and statutory extensions have not been checked. The continuity chain may be incomplete; this is not an enforceability determination.

Classification5 codes

G06Q 40/02
Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes: banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance
G06Q 20/04
Payment architectures, schemes or protocols: payment circuits
G06Q 20/4014
Transaction verification: identity check for transactions
G06Q 20/403
Authorisation, e.g. identification of payer or payee, verification of customer or shop credentials; Review and approval of payers, e.g. check…:…

Timeline

3 Apr 2003Priority claimedParent application 60/460,836
31 Mar 2004Application filedUS 10/813,915
4 Aug 2004Assigned to First Data Corporationassignment of assignor's interest
9 Dec 2004PublishedUS 2004/0245330 A1
24 Jul 2007GrantedUS 7,246,740 B2
31 Oct 2007Assigned to Credit Suisse, Cayman Islands Branch, AS Collateral Agentsecurity agreement
17 Nov 2010Assigned to Wells Fargo Bank, National Association, AS Collateral Agentsecurity agreement
31 Jan 2011Assigned to Wells Fargo Bank, National Association, AS Collateral Agentsecurity agreement
30 Jul 2019Assigned to Cardservice International, Inc., Dw Holdings Inc., First Data Corporation, First Data Resources, LLC, Fundsxpress, Inc., Intelligent Results, Inc., Linkpoint International, Inc., Size Technologies, Inc., Tasq Technology, Inc., Telecheck International, Inc., Telecheck Services, Inc.release of security interest
19 Aug 2019Assigned to First Data Corporation, Dw Holdings, Inc., First Data Resources, Inc. (K/N/A First Data Resources, LLC), Fundsxpress Financial Networks, Inc., Intelligent Results, Inc. (K/N/A First Data Solutions, Inc.), Linkpoint International, Inc., Money Network Financial, LLC, Size Technologies, Inc., Tasq Technology, Inc., Telecheck International, Inc.termination and release of security interest in patent rights
19 Aug 2019Assigned to First Data Corporation, Dw Holdings, Inc., First Data Resources, LLC, Fundsxpress Financial Network, Inc., First Data Solutions, Inc., Linkpoint International, Inc., Money Network Financial, LLC, Size Technologies, Inc., Tasq Technology, Inc., Telecheck International, Inc.termination and release of security interest in patent rights
19 Aug 2019Assigned to First Data Corporationtermination and release of security interest in patent rights
6 Nov 2024Term endedEstimated, includes 220 days of adjustment

Suspicious persons database

Life of this patent

Suspicious persons database

Life of this patent

Life of this patent

Abstract

Drawings

Drawings

Claims20

Description10,401 words

Drawings

Classification5 codes

Life of this patent

Description10,401 words