Methods, apparatus, and systems for supporting purchases of goods and services via prepaid telecommunication accounts

At least one non-transitory computer-readable medium encoded with computer-executable instructions that, when executed, perform a method comprising:

• determining or receiving notification that a balance of a first Prepaid Account associated with a Subscriber and a Mobile Device is insufficient for a purchase of a product and/or a service being attempted in a particular transaction via the first Prepaid Account;
• analyzing usage history associated with an Account ID of the first Prepaid Account and not uniquely associated with the Subscriber, to compute one or more risk measures associated with the Account ID, the analyzing comprising:
• analyzing at least a Top-Up history associated with the Account ID to assign the first Prepaid Account to a first group of a plurality of groups to which Prepaid Accounts of a plurality of Prepaid Accounts are assigned based at least on recency, frequency and monetary value of past Top-Ups of the Prepaid Accounts, the first group including Prepaid Accounts of the plurality of Prepaid Accounts having similar Top-Up histories to the first Prepaid Account, and
• analyzing at least a consumption history of the first Prepaid Account and the Prepaid Accounts having similar Top-Up histories to the first Prepaid Account to assign a maximum allowed Facilitation amount to the first group of Prepaid Accounts as a function of at least an average price of past purchases made via Prepaid Accounts in the first group;
• determining, based on the one or more risk measures associated with the Account ID, whether to facilitate the particular transaction being attempted via the first Prepaid Account, the determining comprising comparing a Facilitation amount required to facilitate the particular transaction with the maximum allowed Facilitation amount for the first group of Prepaid Accounts to which the first Prepaid Account is assigned;
• if it is determined to facilitate the particular transaction being attempted, instructing an Operator associated with the first Prepaid Account and/or a Service or Product Provider (SOPP) associated with the product and/or the service to allow completion of the particular transaction being attempted, without interrupting the particular transaction to require a Top-Up of the first Prepaid Account;
• and
• if it is determined not to facilitate the particular transaction, issuing a denial for the particular transaction.

Apparatus comprising:

• at least one network communication interface;
• at least one processor communicatively coupled to the at least one network communication interface;
• and
• at least one computer-readable storage medium, communicatively coupled to the at least one processor, storing processor-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, perform a method comprising:
• determining or receiving notification that a balance of a first Prepaid Account associated with a Subscriber and a Mobile Device is insufficient for a purchase of a product and/or a service being attempted in a particular transaction via the first Prepaid Account;
• analyzing usage history associated with an Account ID of the first Prepaid Account and not uniquely associated with the Subscriber, to compute one or more risk measures associated with the Account ID;
• the analyzing comprising:
• analyzing at least a Top-Up history associated with the Account ID to assign the first Prepaid Account to a first group of a plurality of groups to which Prepaid Accounts of a plurality of Prepaid Accounts are assigned based at least on recency, frequency and monetary value of past Top-Ups of the Prepaid Accounts, the first group including Prepaid Accounts of the plurality of Prepaid Accounts having similar Top-Up histories to the first Prepaid Account, and
• analyzing at least a consumption history of the first Prepaid Account and the Prepaid Accounts having similar Top-Up histories to the first Prepaid Account to assign a maximum allowed Facilitation amount to the first group of Prepaid Accounts as a function of at least an average price of past purchases made via Prepaid Accounts in the first group;
• determining, based on the one or more risk measures associated with the Account ID, whether to facilitate the particular transaction being attempted via the first Prepaid Account, the determining comprising comparing a Facilitation amount required to facilitate the particular transaction with the maximum allowed Facilitation amount for the first group of Prepaid Accounts to which the first Prepaid Account is assigned;
• if it is determined to facilitate the particular transaction being attempted, instructing an Operator associated with the first Prepaid Account and/or a Service or Product Provider (SOPP) associated with the product and/or the service, via the at least one network communication interface, to allow completion of the particular transaction being attempted, without interrupting the particular transaction to require a Top-Up of the first Prepaid Account;
• and
• if it is determined not to facilitate the particular transaction, issuing a denial for the particular transaction.