Mobile electronic funds transfer system and method

A mobile virtual e-purse micro-payment method and system is provided. The consumer keys in a formatted SMS instruction and sends this to a specified telephone number to effect micro-payment from a monetary funds account which may include a stored-value virtual electronic purse account or an issuing bank account from which funds may be directly debited to his selected merchant. A security feature is provided in which the unique MSISDN phone number identifier and the USERID serve to identify the consumer. For added security the consumer gets a formatted voice call asking him to confirm the payment instructions and to key in his PIN (person identification number). The invention also provides for simple, effective multi-modal return paths via simple fax, e-mail or phone confirmation giving physical records to the merchant that payment has been made.