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Your mobile phone can be loaded with virtual cash by just sending a text
message, according to a patent from Visa International (WO 0109851). Phone users
will be able to send a text message to their bank, requesting the money they
need to go shopping with. Once the bank has authenticated the request and
debited the customer’s account, it sends back an encrypted message that loads
the money onto the phone’s smart card. To buy something, you simply send a text
message to the retailer, selecting the goods. The handset automatically
completes the transaction, debiting the cost of the product from the cash on the
smart card.