System and method for enhanced transaction payment

A method of conducting a commercial transaction, comprising:

• receiving, at a service provider associated with a short code, a single, mobile subscriber-initiated, short message service (SMS) message, addressed to the short code, the SMS message including a payment amount for a commercial transaction;
• retrieving, from a user profile, information received in a prior registration process, the information including criteria defined by the Mobile Subscriber for triggering a further approval sequence;
• augmenting the user profile with data about the mobile subscriber supplied from at least one source other than the mobile subscriber;
• communicating with a billing interface to obtain an authorization code for the payment amount;
• sending a response SMS message to the mobile subscriber, the response SMS message including the authorization code and an advertisement responsive to the augmented user profile, wherein prior to sending the authorization code, triggering, based on the criteria defined by the Mobile Subscriber, the further approval sequence for the commercial transaction, wherein the criteria include an aggregate dollar amount that is compared to a cumulative dollar amount resulting from multiple occurrences of received request messages each having a respective payment amount;
• receiving the authorization code from a party to the commercial transaction other than the mobile subscriber, and generating an approval code based on the authorization code, payment amount and at least one identifier;
• and
• supplying the approval code to the party to the commercial transaction other than the mobile subscriber.

A method for enhancing the security of a transaction payment, comprising:

• receiving, at a service provider, a request message from a mobile subscriber, said request message being associated with a payment portion of a transaction and including a payment amount;
• extracting from the request message at least the amount of the transaction;
• performing one or more processing steps using, at least in part, the amount of the transaction and information previously supplied by the mobile subscriber and yielding, at least in part, an authorization code;
• generating a first response message containing, at least in part, the authorization code and an advertisement responsive to an augmented user profile;
• dispatching to said mobile subscriber said first response message;
• supplying the authorization code from the mobile subscriber to a merchant;
• completing one or more additional processing steps to generate an approval code;
• generating a second response message containing, at least in part, the approval code;
• dispatching the second response message with the approval code to the merchant;
• supplying the approval code from the merchant to the mobile subscriber;
• and
• receiving, at the service provider, a confirmation message from the mobile subscriber, the confirmation message comprising the approval code,
• wherein prior to yielding the authorization code, triggering, based on criteria defined by the Mobile Subscriber, a further approval sequence for the transaction,
• wherein the criteria are received at the service provider from the mobile subscriber during a prior registration process with the service provider, and wherein the criteria include an aggregate dollar amount that is compared to a cumulative dollar amount resulting from multiple occurrences of received request messages each having a respective payment amount.