As financial services institutions worldwide continue to enhance their support for new channels from SMS support to browser-based mobile banking and mobile applications on handheld devices, fraudsters will look for new opportunities to exploit these channels. The new Actimize Mobile Banking modules are specifically designed to leverage data arriving from mobile channels and monitor the behavior of consumers using them to uncover patterns and alert investigators of mobile banking fraud in real or near real-time.

"Mobile banking is clearly picking up in the U.S. as it has already abroad," says Red Gillen, senior analyst at Celent. "Financial services are increasingly a function that users want to perform while on the go and mobile banking will be a significant financial services channel that will be used by 30 percent of online banking households by 2010. As the channel is rolled out, we can expect new types of fraud to follow."

The challenge for financial services intuitions offering mobile banking is to navigate and support competing infrastructure standards, like GPRS, WAP, EDGE, SMS, etc., then deliver services that are easy to use and just as secure as other banking channels.

"While it is possible to treat mobile banking as an extension of the online channel instead of as a unique channel with its own characteristics, it can be very risky to do so," says Amir Orad, CMO of Actimize. "As with the introduction of any previous new financial services channel, fraudsters will identify and exploit its weaknesses. For customers to rely on a new channel like mobile banking, financial institutions must ensure that it is safe and secure."