Thursday, October 09, 2008

How $20 turned into $2000

When Johannes Maartens paid with a cheque for the maintenance on his Ford truck, he never thought that this would turn into a nightmare. The $20 cheque that he gave to the electrician that fixed the indicator on the truck turned into a $ 2000 withdrawal when the cheque was offered to his bank. It took Johannes a lot of time and effort through the courts to get the matter resolved. (Read the full article here)

I was just thinking when I read this article: Would this type of fraud been possible if he made a mobile payment (as he could have done today in South Africa). and the answer is absolutely not - because it is virtually impossible for the electrician to change the payment instruction. Episodes like this should convince people to start doing more of their transactions via their cellphones.

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