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Domestic cell phone companies, including the nation's [Japan's] three leading firms, will voluntarily introduce new rules to prevent so-called remittance fraud using cell phones, such as only allowing up to five lines per customer, it was learned Wednesday.
Police will cooperate by, for instance, responding to inquiries from cell phone retailers requesting information about driver's licenses to prevent the use of forged licenses.
At present, driver's licenses are used for about 70 percent of identifications when customers concluding cell phone contracts at shop counters need to prove who they are.
The new voluntary rules will be enforced as soon as NTT Docomo Inc., SoftBank Mobile Corp. and KDDI Corp. and others are ready to implement the regulations. The exact timing for the new scheme is being coordinated among concerned parties, sources said.
The total costs incurred by remittance fraud cases has topped 100 billion yen over the past four years, with some victims driven to suicide.
In one particularly common style of remittance fraud, a con man concludes several dozen contracts under one name using a forged driver's license. He and his accomplices then concoct stories and begin calling people to try to persuade them to send money.
In response to the problem, the Liberal Democratic Party established a task force on combatting remittance fraud, headed by House of Representatives member Isshu Sugawara, which reached a basic agreement on the rules with cell phone firms and the National Police Agency.
According to the agreement, the number of cell phone lines that can be held under one person's name will be limited to five, the sources said.
In addition, when cell phone firms judge it will be necessary to confirm the identities of clients when concluding contracts with them, they will ask police to confirm the authenticity of the customers' licenses.
If a customer refuses to submit to the policy inquiry, firms will decline a contract, and will contact police if they become suspicious about a customer, the sources added.
Cell phone firms eye new anti-fraud rules : National : DAILY YOMIURI ONLINE (The Daily Yomiuri)
This is a service that will soon be available through IPM for remittance transactions from U.S. to Mexico and beyond.
Article follows:
By JO TIM BUONG
INDONESIANS sending money home do not need to stand in line anymore because they can now do it with their mobile phones.
Local mobile content company, Com2U Sdn Bhd recently launched moneyMe, an operator-independent mobile remittance service, to immediately and securely transfer money within Malaysia and Indonesia via SMS.
The service currently allows Maxis and DiGi mobile subscribers to transfer money between Malaysia and Indonesia.
Com2u plans to make the service available to Celcom subscribers next month.
Currently, most fund transfers to Indonesia are done manually at banks and results are not instantaneous, Com2U said.
Com2u decided to launch its service in Indonesia based on the huge number of its workers earning a living in Malaysia. It estimates that about 66% of foreign workers in Malaysia are from Indonesia.
“Most of them come from ‘under-banked’ areas and the beneficiaries live in those under-banked areas,” said Tan Sri Ahmad Mohd Don, Com2u chairman.
Ahmad added that every family in those under-banked areas would have at least one mobile phone that is shared among its members.
This he said, makes mobile remittance a perfect service for them.Com2U has also established a strategic partnership with PT Ebays, an authorised marketing distributor of Duit Pos Multiguna Service in Indonesia to allow beneficiaries to withdraw funds at Pos Indonesia outlets with the Wesel Pos Instant Service, a remittance service found in Indonesian post offices.
“It’s as easy as reloading your mobile airtime credit,” said Eugene Loke, Com2U chief executive officer told In.Tech after launching the service last week.Registration and subscription via SMS to the service is free. After registering, users can go to any outlet with e-pay facilities to load the desired amount to their moneyMe mobile wallet.
E-pay facilities can be found at numerous bookstores, convenient stores and restaurants nationwide.Subscribers are allowed to transfer up to RM50,000 a day and are charged a processing fee from as low as RM9.
The beneficiary will be notified with a text message identifying the amount and sender of the funds and it can be cashed at any Pos Indonesia agents.
MoneyMe’s functionality is guarded by a Personal Identification Number (PIN) and a subscriber’s account details are not stored on the phone.
“They can call moneyMe customer service to freeze the account if they lose their mobile phones,” Loke explained.
Com2u said it will be expanding its moneyMe service to banks in Indonesia to make it even more convenient for beneficiaries to claim their funds.
The company said it also plans to expand the service to other countries in South-East Asia but did not elaborate further.
Money is just an SMS away
