#CASHTAGS are a thing: you can now bank on Twitter

India's ICICI bank has launched a bank-by-Twitter service. The catchily-named “icicibankpay” service requires users to register a mobile phone number with the Bank and then follow the @ICICIBank Twitter account, in order to receive a one-time password as a direct message. Once the password's been confirmed, users can fire off …

[JDX]

Seemingly both incredibly daft and actually quite cool, in a nerdy kind of way.

[Martin Budden]

This certainly sounds like a massively convenient payment system.

I bagged my twitter username when twitter first started, just in case, and I've used it on average only about once every two years. But I can imagine using twitter far more often in the future for this feature.

[Martin Budden]

publicly visible?

Are banking tweets publicly visible? I know that receiving the one-time password is via a direct message but the article isn't clear about subsequent transactions.

[BasicChimpTheory]

Re: publicly visible?

http://icicibank.com/Personal-Banking/insta-banking/internet-banking/twitter-banking/transactions.page?#toptitle

Yes, the (I guess) declaration of the transfer is public. But the sender is given a key to share with the reciever so they can redeem the payment.

I'd be willing to wager a large sum that many will share this key via twitter and will forget to DM.

[fearnothing]

Re: publicly visible?

If it's done right, it won't mean you can scoop up other people's payments - it should act as an ID for an escrowed transaction in the bank's database, not some kind of funky 140-character bitcoin. Is that what you were worried about?

[Mark 85]

Re: publicly visible?

Smells like a hijack or some serious fraud just waiting to happen.

[Rimpel]

Re: publicly visible?

It is initiated by a direct message to icici so the initiation of the transfer is private. However it does seem that if an account registered for this service is compromised then the attacker can transfer money to any twitter account.

icici seem to be into this social banking thing as they integrate with facebook too. "Pockets by ICICI Bank offers you the convenience of banking on Facebook and your smart phone. The first-of-its kind app uses Facebook credentials to log into your account on Facebook and mobile to make banking fun and social." Hopefully it is the last-of-its-kind too.

http://icicibank.com/Personal-Banking/insta-banking/internet-banking/pockets-on-facebook/index.page?

[Mark 85]

Re: publicly visible?

Why does the concept of "banking on Facebook" send shivers up and down my spine? And not in a good way either.

[Trainee grumpy old ****]

Re: publicly visible?

"banking on Facebook" => For extra shivers - imaging it posting to your timeline.

"<your name> paid ¤nnn to <payee>"

"<your name> received ¤nnn from <payer>"

"<your name> is overdrawn"

[Graham Marsden]

Re: publicly visible?

@thegodfather transferred £10,000 to @justbusiness...