Summary
Follows a gift card from purchase through secure redemption.
- Purchase: Maya scans a store’s QR code, chooses a $50 gift, adds a message, schedules delivery, and pays with Apple Pay—without downloading an app or creating an account.
- Activation: The merchant’s existing processor activates the card, while Othentica registers it for protection.
- Delivery and ownership: Jordan receives a secure link and verifies ownership using Face ID or a one-time code. The spendable card number stays hidden.
- Access and recovery: Jordan can add the card to a digital wallet, check its balance, and freeze and recover it if the phone is lost. Customers without smartphones can use alternative claiming methods and a private PIN.
- Protected spending: Routine purchases proceed normally. Suspicious attempts trigger an owner confirmation; rejecting the request blocks the transaction.
- Follow-up: Balances update after purchases, and reminders encourage recipients to return.
The main message: Othentica adds ownership verification, recovery, and fraud protection to an existing gift card program.
Transcription
Let's follow one gift card through its whole life from the moment it's bought to the last dollar spent.
Meet Maya. She's at Harbor and Pine Coffee and she just remembered it's her friend Jordan's birthday. She scans the QR code on the counter. No app to download, no account to create. A branded gift card page opens right in her browser.
She picks $50, adds a message, and schedules it for Jordan's birthday morning. Then she pays with Apple Pay. Done in under 30 seconds.
Behind the scenes, Harbor and Pine's processor issues and activates the card and the card is registered with Authentica at the same time. Bought by QR code at the register, online, or from a retail rack, every card is registered with both. One card, one balance, physical or digital.
On Friday morning, Jordan gets a text. There's no card number. In fact, the card number is never revealed anywhere. Jordan gets a secure link to claim the gift.
Jordan opens it, sees Maya's message, and claims the card with Face ID or a one-time code. Just like that, Jordan is the verified owner.
Now the card is protected. Jordan can add it to Apple or Google Wallet and check the balance anytime. If the phone is ever lost, Jordan can freeze the card and recover. A lost card is no longer lost money. And customers without a smartphone can claim at the counter, by phone, or online and protect the card with a private PIN.
On Saturday, Jordan walks into Harbor and Pine. A normal purchase on a known phone at a familiar store. It just goes through and the card number never appears at the register.
Now imagine someone photographs Jordan's card or copies the code from the message and tries to spend it online from a new device on the full balance. Authentica checks with the owner before the money moves. Jordan gets a prompt, “Is this you?” Jordan taps no. The redemption is blocked. A copy of the card can't spend the money and the balance is safe.
After every purchase, the processor sends the update and Jordan sees the new balance instantly. Later, a friendly reminder brings Jordan back and Maya hears that her gift was enjoyed.
That's the Authentica experience. Buy in seconds, gift with confidence, own it and spend it safely. All on top of the gift card program Harbor and Pine already runs.
Authentica gift cards, truly theirs.
