Using Payment Apps Safely – Winnipeg Free Press

As a frequent PayPal user, I wasn’t surprised to see a payment prompt in the app. But when I read it, I knew something was wrong.

In the message, a stranger asked me to send them $699 to get a “refund”. Although I immediately recognized the request as a scam, I still felt vulnerable; I didn’t see an immediately obvious way to flag the request as a scam, and with one click I could have accidentally sent this stranger a huge sum of money.

I’m hardly alone in my concerns about security when using peer-to-peer payment apps: According to a Pew Research Center survey published in September 2022, about one-third of people who use payment apps or websites say they are “somewhat or not at all sure that the paid apps or websites keep people’s personal data safe from hackers and unauthorized users.” An alarming 13% of people who use PayPal, Venmo, Zelle or the Cash App say they’ve made the mistake of sending money to a scammer.

Fraud prevention experts recommend these strategies to keep your money safe.

ONLY SEND MONEY TO PEOPLE YOU KNOW

Peer-to-peer payment apps are generally designed to send money between friends, not strangers. If you use them to send money to someone you don’t know, you’re putting yourself at risk of fraud.

“Don’t send money unless you’ve met people in real life and know who you’re sending money to. By doing this and being careful about the number you send money to, these apps can be a convenient, secure and efficient way to move money around,” says Paul Benda, senior vice president of operational risk and cybersecurity. the American Bankers Association, the banking industry’s trade association.

USE CASH AND CREDIT CARD IN HIGHER RISK SITUATIONS

If you need to exchange money for goods or services with someone you don’t know, the safest way is to use cash or a credit card, says Axton Betz-Hamilton, an assistant professor at Southern’s School of Health and Consumer Sciences. from Dakota State University and the author of “The Less People Know About Us,” a memoir about identity theft.

For example, credit cards come with fraud protection. “I want that protection, so I don’t use those apps,” he says.

While stolen cash is more difficult to recover, it may be covered by homeowners and renters insurance policies (up to policy limits and depending on the policy).

BEWARE OF TEXTS, CALLS OR REQUESTS

Scams are often perpetuated when scammers send a text, phone call, or other message asking you to send money, perhaps claiming that you owe a refund or that a bill is overdue.

“Fraudsters continue to get better at what they do,” says Joel Williquette, vice president of operational risk policy at the Independent Community Bankers of America, a trade group for community banks. This includes sending emails that are almost indistinguishable from legitimate bank emails.

Cybercriminals may pose as the IRS or the FBI and ask you to send a peer-to-peer payment immediately to settle a debt, but Williquette says legitimate agencies will never contact you via text message. or with an urgent request for money on a mobile phone.

“They usually send you a letter,” he says, and they don’t ask for payment via apps or gift cards—another red flag.

Fraudulent payment requests sent through a peer-to-peer payment app “are usually small dollar amounts and may even appear to come from a friend,” says Eva Velasquez, president and CEO of the Identity Theft Resource Center, a nonprofit organization. .

Velasquez encourages people to check requests first by double-checking that they’re sending the money to the right person, adding that it’s easier to fall for scams if you’re distracted and multitasking.

UPDATE YOUR CYBER HYGIENE

Enabling two-factor authentication on financial accounts, adding a PIN lock to your phone and using unique passwords that are at least 12 characters long can help keep things safe, Velasquez says.

It also recommends setting your app’s privacy settings to the most private setting to minimize the amount of publicly available information.

ATTEMPTS TO FRAUD

According to PayPal, if you receive a payment request like the one I received, cancel the request without payment. You can also take a screenshot and forward it to [email protected] PayPal adds that you should not respond, open links, download attachments, or call the phone number in the request.

If you’ve mistakenly provided any financial or personal information to a scammer, PayPal says you should immediately change your password, notify your bank, and report any unauthorized payments to PayPal. You can also report fraud to the Federal Trade Commission at reportfraud.ftc.gov, a government website that shares information with law enforcement agencies.

In my case, I followed the recommended step of withdrawing the payment request and never heard from my scammer again. With the added security measures, I will continue to enjoy the convenience of PayPal and other payment apps – and now I know what to do the next time I receive an unsolicited payment request.

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This column was provided to The Associated Press by personal finance website NerdWallet. Kimberly Palmer is a personal finance expert at NerdWallet and author of Smart Mom, Rich Mom. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @KimberlyPalmer.

RELATED LINKS:

NerdWallet: The Best Peer-to-Peer Payment Apps: Pros, Cons, and How to Use Them

Federal Trade Commission: Anti-Fraud Report

METHODOLOGY:

The Pew Research Center conducted this study to better understand Americans’ experiences and attitudes toward payment apps and websites. This survey was conducted between July 5 and July 17, 2022, among 6,034 US adults. It included 4,996 respondents from the Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel drawn from a national random sample of residential addresses. So almost every American adult has a choice. The Ipsos KnowledgePanel oversample of 1,038 respondents was also included. The survey is weighted to be representative of the US adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisanship, education and other categories.

Pew Research Center. (September 2022). “Payment apps like Venmo and Cash App present convenience — and security concerns — for some users.”