Geofence triggered credit card transaction

Question

I have a question about a geofence triggered action. Does anyone know if you can trigger a credit card transaction by location? An app I'm having a guy work on requires this function and the guy says it can't be done. Thanks in advance

• user1118321: Would the credit card companies allow that? It seems like it would be ripe for fraud.
• jwenting: so you want to have an app that silently takes money from its users when they are in a specific location? Tell us what apps you create so we can be sure to never trust any of them.
• Jonny Cadman: Not silently. thas pretty silly to think anyone at this point in life would allow that to be happening with their credit cards. There would be a prompt asking for security info. Not in secret. Just geo based. I hope that clarifies the scary part.

Answer 1

In theory there is no reason you cant trigger a credit card transaction based on a geo-location event.

However, in practice it would probably not pass PCI compliance, which would normally require that the user enter the CVC number and possibly go through the 3D secure process at the time of transaction

One possible way around the problem would be to get the users to buy 'credits' with real money prior to the event and then debt those credits when the user enters/exits the geo locations.

Additionally, it should be obvious that the user can prevent any geo location event from being triggered. (switch off or spoof GPS) so you would be unable to ensure that the event was triggered. Say for automatic ticketing.

• Jonny Cadman: This is a really great idea. It would eliminate security issues Thanks so much for your time.
• Lars Viklund: I'd be rather scared of inaccurate geo-location data. Sporadically end up in the wrong place, jitter around between locations, the possibilities for malfunction are endless.