One of the guys in the Borland Korea office mentioned in conversation that most Credit Card companies in Korea offer to send you SMS messages whenever your card is used. Apparently they pitch this as a security measure, but it is not much used for its original purpose. It’s wildy popular, apparently, among husbands who get their mobile numbers assigned to their wife’s Credit Card, thereby letting them monitor their wife’s spending.

I told my wife about this (who, by the way, was out shopping while I was at work being told this), who quickly declared that it would never take off in Australia, and added, with a challenging look, "certainly not in our household".

Funnily enough, my bank back here in Oz has just sent me an email saying they are about to start trialling it for all their accounts, including Credit Cards. They aren’t pitching it as a security measure, more as a way to find out when that important payment gets deposited into your account. Hmmm, wonder if I’m brave enough to tell her 🙂