How to Verify your Webmoney Account via SMS Text Message

I’d previously blogged about the Webmoney payment system in two articles detailing their services and announcing the fact they now have a “Gold Based” version of their Webmoney purse available. You can read those articles from the links at he end of this post. I’ve clearly stated my positive opinion of the Russian based Webmoney. At the moment, Webmoney seems to be the most promising payment processor next to V-Money. Their security is unparalelled and includes a complete software based solution to access your account or you can access your account through the X.509 root certificate based web interface. The ease of use globally makes Webmoney a true contender. The fact it is not located in the United States yet their customer support is absolutely exceptional is just one example of why Webmoney is “superior money”.

Potential Webmoney users and/or merchants will have to be aware that Webmoney requires verification of your account either through their WM Passport system or by sending an SMS Text Message from your cellphone. The WM Passport service had previously been available only in Russian language on the website but I just checked their site before writing this post and I was amazed to see the WM Passport is now available in English language as well.

In my case, I chose to activate by SMS on my handset but I was having a problem dialing the Russian phone number that I was supposed to send the SMS to. The phone number was shown as follow…

+7 (916) 805-46-12

Well, I’m not used to dialing international numbers but I tried about three text messages (to 79168054612) and none of them seemed to be getting through. I decided to try to just dial that number and see if it was in service and if I was connecting. That’s when I figured out that if you are dialing on a US based handset you have to dial the plus sign in the number. Well, I have one Samsung handset with T-Mobile for my personal use and a Motorola handset with Verizon for my business use. I was perplexed with both handsets as to how you get the plus sign in the number. I’m no stranger to text messages, but this one had me stumped. Well, I logged into my Verizon account and found out I’d have to add another monthy charge and change my service plan to be able to send an international text message. Ok, Verizon was out, so I just dialed support on my T-Mobile phone (I love T-Mobile dial 611 for support), anyway, I got a very friendly support person that let me know that T-Mobile allows any account to send international SMS messges for .20 per message. He also told me to dial the plus sign, on almost any handset, all you have to do is hold down the number “0″ until the plus sign appears. Armed with that information, I had my webmoney account verified in 5 minutes. Awesome service by both T-Mobile and Webmoney!!!

To open a Webmoney account and have a look for yourself, their site is available at the link below…
http://www.wmtransfer.com/

Opening an account is free of charge rest assured, Webmoney is worth a look just to see all of the features they offer. Plus, they show their daily stats on their front page, and today’s were rather interesting…

Total registrations in WebMoney Transfer: 4 094 626.
15-09-2007: 73337 transactions, turnover 3 535 391 USD,
3796 new registrations.

Seems like quite a few people are opening Webmoney account these days. As a footnote, I assume most of the people reading this post are aeware that Webmoney now offers a “gold backed” purse called Webmoney G. Thumbs up !! Below are two of my previous articles on Webmoney.