back to article Bung a tenner to a mate's mobile number with new Barclays app

PingIt is Barclays' answer to PayPal and its ilk, linking payments to a mobile-phone number instead of an email address but providing a banking brand to back them up. Initially only those with a Barclays current account are able to make payments, but anyone with a UK bank can register their phone number to receive money - the …

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  1. FredScummer
    WTF?

    Another Virus Target?

    Am I alone in thinking this is going to become yet another sneaky virus target, where the smartphone will be encouraged to send payments to numbers which you never realised were in your phonebook?

    Or am I panicking unnecessarily.....

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Another Virus Target?

      Yep, can see the blackhats rubbing their hands with glee at this one. Of course should you fall foul to malware I'm sure the banks will reimburse you with a loud raspberry and howls of laughter.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Another Virus Target?

      As they said on BBC Radio4's Today show - Pay Pal seems to be going pretty well, there are relatively few examples of people getting suckered in to fraud via emails.

      Also, this sort of system has been working in various African countries for years now with little, if any problems. Furthermore, it's written into law that the bank has to show that you were negligent and willingly gave your information away, otherwise they have to refund fraudulent transactions.

      1. David 164

        Re: Re: Another Virus Target?

        Just to add this system was developed by the Dfid, and been in Africa, India an Afghanistan, Turkey for years, with little fraud, of cause their was little money involve as well. But fear from hackers should not hold us back from useful developments.

    3. LarsG

      COULD BE GOOD FOR...

      small businesses, should be cheaper than lugging a card machine from location to location,

      BUT

      I'm sure the banks will think up all sorts of charges for the privilege to use it. I bet call cost connections to your account will cost you and they'll charge for you to receive it as well.

      A future cash cow for the banks.

  2. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge
    FAIL

    Useful for Plumbers?

    Quote

    sole traders such as window cleaners or plumbers

    Plumbers? You must be joking. In my experience they don't get out of bed for less than £100. Then its £30/hour minimum.

    1. Mark 65

      Re: Useful for Plumbers?

      In a recessionary/low-growth environment with the building trade in the shitter I should think their rates will be declining somewhat. Much more of this and they'll be paying you the callout fee out of gratitude.

  3. Giles Jones Gold badge

    Well at least it will be regulated unlike PayPal. Any bank service needs to abide by the financial regulations, PayPal doesn't as it isn't a bank.

    I imagine many companies won't want to give out their mobile phone numbers though.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Err...

      Paypal is regulated now, the EU made them on the grounds that they are clearly a payment processor/bank.

      1. Eddie Edwards

        Re: Err...

        That's what I thought until recently. You might want to read up on the latest developments on that front.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          @Eddie

          You appear to be correct, I stand corrected... This is an outrageous state of affairs.

  4. Big Egg

    "Intriguingly the app's licence includes a reference to Google Maps and Google Earth (as well as the obligatory nod to the open-source crypto stack SSLeay). There's no sign of location-based integration yet, but it's obviously something Barclays has in mind."

    Or would that be the Branch Locator built into the App???

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I smell a disaster on the horizon

    I dumped all and everything to do with Barclays because I couldn't trust the online banking system to tell me how much I had in my accounts at anytime and the customer services was appalling, so much so that the local Branch advised me to always come into the branch to sort out issues rather than calling the 24/7 number. If you can't get that right in this day and age you must have problems and they want people to trust their app to send money quickly to a phone number!

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    They have had this in East Africa for years. It's called Mpesa.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M-Pesa

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Phishing season...

    .. is hereby declared open.

    "Dear Mr Gullible

    You have been sent an instant payment to your mobile phone. Please reply tio this message with your bank account number, debit card number, PIN and security code ....."

  8. PaulR79

    Wrong numbers

    I can only see positive aspects of this going to the wrong number from a receiving point of view.

    "I sent you £10 for the party."

    "Who is this?"

    "Oh sorry, wrong number. Can you send that money back?"

    *no reply*

    1. Just Thinking
      Coat

      Re: Wrong numbers

      Yes, the system failed in China for that exact reason.

      Mines the one with the ancient book of dubious jokes in the pocket.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Wrong numbers

      This does however provide an incentive to register online to recieve payments but never download the app OR even have a Barclays account.

      I wonder how many number you can register to an account...

  9. SJRulez
    FAIL

    Its broke already

    I signed up to it early to start having a dig into how it works, installed the app on android and rather shockingly got a message stating.....

    "We have detected that your phone has root access, so for security reasons you cant use Pingit"

    Hmm, obviously root access must give you access to some stuff Barclays dont want you to see.

    1. David 164

      Re: Its broke already

      More likely the root access would give access to your accounts for the hackers and it likely to open up hole with in the system. It the same with Google Checkout, which Google warns people not to run on rooted devices.

      It seem mobile payments are only for people who do not root their phones, at least for now.

  10. agentgonzo

    What if I lose my phone

    If I lose my phone on a bus, does that mean that anyone who finds it can ping £300 to their phone number straight away?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: What if I lose my phone

      Yes they could. Just a tiny bit traceable though. Though it could be used to send a payment to a third party I suppose in the event the the finders wanted to set the third party up for the crime. Then againI would imagine that the app is PASSWORD protected.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "The bank reckons PingIt is ideal for friends and family wanting to transfer a tenner or two between them"

    A free service for those not lucky enough to own a supported device is also being developed. Dubbed "the envelope" this paper based transfer technology is ideal for transfering small and large amounts of money between people that will probably see each other every fucking day anyway.

  12. The Serpent

    I was OK with it..

    ..until I got to the bit in the Ts & Cs where they "may" (i.e. 'will') give my details and usage habits to unrelated sections of Barclays, Barclays' partners, Barclays' partner's dog, etc with no opt out. You can opt out of Barclays marketing messages, but not the selling-on of info. I think not.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "Transfers should take about 30 seconds"

    Wow, they can do that with phone numbers?

    Then why, I ask, does it take several days just to move money between two accounts at the same branch when you do it online?!

    Grrrr!

    1. Annihilator
      Paris Hilton

      Re: "Transfers should take about 30 seconds"

      Err, who/where? I can transfer money instantly between my accounts at the same banks. And limits withstanding, within 15 minutes between banks using faster payments.

      Suggest you get a better bank..

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: "Transfers should take about 30 seconds"

      Err... 2007 called, they want their rant back...

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: "Transfers should take about 30 seconds"

      Sounds like you have experience of Barclays online banking system.

  14. agentgonzo
    Alert

    Question about linking to the bank account

    How does to verify that you are the owner of the bank account when you download the app? It's not that hard to find out other people's bank account details (sort code + account number) and their address. Has anyone registered with it yet to say what is to stop me registering this with my mobile number and someone else's address/bank account, then sending £300 a day for as long as I can get away with it to my other phone/account?

    1. SJRulez

      Re: Question about linking to the bank account

      They deposit a penny in your account with a reference number which you then have to enter during the signup.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Question about linking to the bank account

      You have to verify using PIN Sentry, ATM on in branch.

  15. BarryMc
    Paris Hilton

    Tried it on my phone

    Detected my Desire HD was rooted, and told me to get lost as that means my security has been compromised.

    Paris, because unlike Barclays, she likes a root. (taken from the Aussie use of the term, natch).

    1. Steve Evans

      Re: Tried it on my phone

      Confirmed...

      I didn't have any interest in this gimmick until you said this, but now I try it I see the same problem.

      Lame.

      I might have a play about later and see if I can stop it detecting the root.

      1. SJRulez

        Re: Re: Tried it on my phone

        According to xda developers which already has a thread about it renaming superuser.apk should do the trick or moving the files out of the bin folder temporarily. I think it only flags it on activation, bit annoying since rooting an android is perfectly legal now.

  16. auburnman
    Stop

    Ominous

    It could certainly be a worthwhile technology, if it could be trusted. You'd need a hell of a lot of safeguards though, and given that they're obviously nervous enough to not allow it on rooted phones I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole.

    Either they don't understand the risks, or they know there is a specific risk and have released it anyway. Neither option fills me with confidence.

    As an aside, how hard would it be for a rooted phone to tell apps it hadn't been rooted?

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  18. Swoopert
    FAIL

    I tried to register as a non-Barclays customer, but the 1p payment into my account doesn't have any reference on it...at least I'm 1p up! Get in! ;)

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    1st Payment

    Done - sent a payment to the wife to test it. Quick and easy and saves me having to log in to give her dosh.

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