Patent Issued for Automated proximity fraud account lock systems and methods (USPTO 11587063): United Services Automobile Association

2023 MAR 14 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- United Services Automobile Association (San Antonio, Texas, United States) has been issued patent number 11587063, according to news reporting originating out of Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx editors.

The patent’s inventors are Buentello, Andre Rene (San Antonio, TX, US), Lilley, David Alexander (Schertz, TX, US).

This patent was filed on July 5, 2017 and was published online on February 21, 2023.

From the background information supplied by the inventors, news correspondents obtained the following quote: “Consumers often have many financial accounts. Each account may have an associated payment card that allows the consumer to utilize the financial account in transactions with merchants. For example, the merchant may have a point-of-sale terminal that allows the consumer to swipe their payment card. The point-of-sale terminal then verifies the financial account information and processes the transaction.”

Supplementing the background information on this patent, NewsRx reporters also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “Various embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to security of accounts. More specifically, various embodiments of the present disclosure relate to methods and systems for preventing unauthorized use of a financial account.

“Today, some financial institutions lock or close a consumer’s account when a payment card associated with the account is lost or stolen. The consumer typically notifies the financial institution that the payment card is lost or stolen. However, there may be a delay between when the payment card is lost and when the consumer notices it is gone and contacts the financial institution. During this interim period, the payment card may be used for fraudulent transactions.

“Embodiments are disclosed herein that allow a user’s computing device (such as a mobile phone) to identify whether a payment card is near the user. The payment card includes a security device that can communicate with a user’s mobile phone. For example, the payment card may include a Bluetooth device that can be paired with the user’s mobile phone.

“When a user attempts to use the payment card in a transaction, the mobile phone can verify that the payment card is nearby. The mobile phone may perform this verification by detecting that the payment card is paired with the phone. If the payment card is not paired, then the mobile phone can lock (or send a message to a server to lock) the consumer’s account associated with the payment card and prevent the transaction from proceeding. If the payment card is paired with the mobile phone, then it is assumed that the payment card is in the user’s possession, and the transaction is permitted to proceed. In some embodiments, the user’s account may be locked automatically when the payment card is out of range of the mobile phone, whether a transaction is taking place or not. In other embodiments, the payment card must be within a certain distance of the mobile phone (e.g., five feet).

“In other embodiments, the system may notify the user when the payment card is out of range of the mobile phone’s wireless communication. This notification may alert the user when the payment card is misplaced or stolen. The user may be given an option to lock the account associated with payment card or allow the account to be used.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A security system comprising: a portable computing device comprising one or more processors and one or more memories, wherein at least one of the processors is configured to communicate with a low energy wireless device or passive energy wireless device, of a security device, to determine whether the security device and the portable computing device are within communication range of each other, the one or more memories storing computer-readable code that, when executed by the one or more processors cause the portable computing device to: establish, via a first network, a connection with the security device, wherein establishing the connection comprises: verifying the security device as authentic based on at least one security device identifier; and linking the security device to at least one user-selected consumer account accessible from the portable computing device; send, via the portable computing device, transaction requests for initializing transactions to a consumer account platform that is located remote from the portable computing device and the security device; and receive, via the portable computing device, a communication that the consumer account platform received a transaction request of a transaction using the at least one user-selected consumer account, and in response to receiving the communication, detect, via the portable computing device, whether the security device is in proximity to the portable computing device by determining whether the security device and the portable computing device are within the communication range of each other, wherein the portable computing device is in communication with a point of sale terminal associated with a merchant, and wherein the security device and the portable computing device are associated with a user; in response to the portable computing device not being within proximity to the security device, provide on a display of the portable computing device (1) a notification that the security device is out of range of the portable computing device and that fraud is detected, and (2) an option to lock or allow usage of the at least one user-selected consumer account; receive, via the portable computing device, an indication that the option to lock the at least one user-selected consumer account is selected; and in response to the indication to lock the at least one user-selected consumer account linked to the security device, transmit, by the portable computing device, a communication to the consumer account platform to lock the at least one user-selected consumer account to prevent the at least one user-selected consumer account from being used in the transaction with the point-of-sale terminal; wherein the consumer account platform comprising one or more consumer account platform processors and one or more consumer account platform memories, wherein the one or more consumer account platform memories stores computer-readable code that, when executed by the one or more consumer account platform processors, cause the one or more consumer account platform processors to: lock the at least one user-selected consumer account in response to receiving the communication to lock the at least one user-selected consumer account from the portable computing device.

“2. The security system of claim 1, wherein the low energy wireless device or the passive energy wireless device is a component of a payment card associated with the at least one user-selected consumer account.

“3. The security system of claim 1, wherein the security device comprises one or more of: a ring, a wallet, a watch, a necklace, a wristband, or a purse.

“4. The security system of claim 1, wherein the providing the notification that the security device is out of range of the portable computing device and that fraud is detected is further in response to: identifying that the merchant associated with the point-of-sale terminal is not an approved merchant.

“5. The security system of claim 1, wherein the providing the notification that the security device is out of range of the portable computing device and that fraud is detected is further in response to: identifying that an amount of the transaction exceeds a transaction limit associated with the at least one user-selected consumer account.

“6. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a set of computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause a portable computing device to: establish, via a first network, a connection with the security device, wherein establishing the connection comprises: verifying the security device as authentic based on at least one security device identifier; and linking the security device to at least one user-selected consumer account accessible from the portable computing device; send transaction requests for initializing transactions to a consumer account platform that is located remote from both the portable computing device and a security device, wherein the security device includes a low energy wireless device or a passive energy wireless device; and receive a communication that the consumer account platform received a transaction request of a transaction using the at least one user-selected consumer account, and in response to receiving the communication, detect whether the security device is in proximity to the portable computing device by determining whether the security device and the portable computing device are within communication range of each other, wherein the portable computing device is in communication with a point of sale terminal associated with a merchant, and wherein the security device and the portable computing device are associated with a user; in response to the portable computing device not being within proximity to the security device, provide on a display of the portable computing device (1) a notification that the security device is out of range, and (2) an option to lock or allow usage of the at least one user-selected consumer account; receive an indication that the option to lock the at least one user-selected consumer account is selected; and in response to the indication to lock the at least one user-selected consumer account, lock, by the portable computing device, the at least one user-selected consumer account to prevent the at least one user-selected consumer account from being used in the transaction.

“7. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, wherein the low energy wireless device or the passive energy wireless device is a component of a payment card associated with the at least one user-selected consumer account.

“8. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, wherein the security device comprises one or more of: a ring, a wallet, a watch, a necklace, a wristband, or a purse.

“9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, wherein the providing the notification that the security device is out of range of the portable computing device is further in response to: identifying that the merchant associated with the point-of-sale terminal is not an approved merchant.

“10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, wherein providing the notification that the security device is out of range of the portable computing device is further in response to: identifying that an amount of the transaction exceeds a transaction limit associated with the at least one user-selected consumer account.

“11. A method comprising: establishing, via a first network, a connection with the security device, wherein establishing the connection comprises: verifying the security device as authentic based on at least one security device identifier; and linking the security device to at least one user-selected consumer account accessible from the portable computing device; sending transaction requests for initializing transactions to a consumer account platform that is located remote from a portable computing device and a security device that includes a low energy wireless device or a passive energy wireless device; and receiving a communication that the consumer account platform received a transaction request for initializing a transaction using the at least one user-selected consumer account, and in response to receiving the communication, detecting whether the security device is in proximity to the portable computing device by determining whether the security device and the portable computing device are within communication range of each other, wherein the portable computing device is in communication with a point of sale terminal associated with a merchant, and wherein the security device and the portable computing device are associated with a user; in response to the portable computing device not being within proximity to the security device, providing on a display of the portable computing device (1) a notification that the security device is out of range of the portable computing device, and (2) an option to lock or allow usage of the at least one user-selected consumer account; receiving, via the portable computing device, an indication that the option to lock the at least one user-selected consumer account is selected; and in response to the indication to lock the at least one user-selected consumer account linked to the security device, locking, by the portable computing device, the at least one user-selected consumer account to prevent the at least one user-selected consumer account from being used in the transaction with the point-of-sale terminal.

“12. The method of claim 11, wherein the low energy wireless device or the passive energy wireless device is a component of a payment card associated with the at least one user-selected consumer account.

“13. The method of claim 11, wherein the security device comprises one or more of: a ring, a wallet, a watch, a necklace, a wristband, or a purse.”

There are additional claims. Please visit full patent to read further.

For the URL and additional information on this patent, see: Buentello, Andre Rene. Automated proximity fraud account lock systems and methods. U.S. Patent Number 11587063, filed July 5, 2017, and published online on February 21, 2023. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(11587063)&db=USPAT&type=ids

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