Patent ID: 8612356

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for verifying merchant issued vouchers, comprising: receiving, at a computer, a registration request short message service (“SMS”) message from a mobile communication device, wherein the registration request SMS message comprises a merchant account identifier and a security code; verifying, by the computer, that the merchant account identifier in the registration request SMS message matches a merchant account identifier stored in a merchant index and that the security code in the registration request SMS message matches a security code assigned to the merchant account identifier, and determining that the merchant account identifier and security code are associated with a merchant account; registering, by the computer, the mobile communication device by linking a mobile communication device number of the mobile communication device with the merchant account in response to determining that the merchant account identifier and security code are associated with the merchant account; generating, by the computer, a registration confirmation SMS message indicating that the mobile communication device is registered with the merchant account; communicating, by the computer, the registration confirmation SMS message to the mobile communication device; receiving, by the computer, a voucher verification request SMS message from the mobile communication device, the voucher verification request SMS message comprising a voucher identifier for a voucher associated with the merchant account; determining, by the computer, that the mobile communication device is registered with the merchant account; identifying, by the computer, a voucher status of the voucher associated with the voucher identifier; generating, by the computer, a voucher verification SMS message including the voucher status; and communicating, by the computer, the voucher verification SMS message to the mobile communication device.