Almost everyone nowadays knows about Peer-to-Peer P2P. It’s amongst the most prominent money transfer apps. Some of these you may already be familiar with, such as Western Union and Google Play. These apps enable people to transfer money from their mobile devices which are connected to a funding source, e.g., a bank. Although these apps are convenient for you and your family, are they safe to use?
How Do These Money Transfer Apps Work?
According to eMarketer, a research company, approximately 96 million persons use at least one type of P2P service this year. This figure has increased from an approximate figure for the last year of 82.5 million.
When you’re setting up the app, you’ll get instructed to create a profile and attach a credit card or bank account to it. After you finish setting up your profile, you can then search for someone on the app, or you can send an invitation to that person to join with you. Doing this allows you to transmit money to their account using the P2P app.
The receiver can then choose to keep the money in that app, use a P2P debit card to take the funds, or instead transfer it to their bank account. Since these apps are doing so well on the market, more investors are joining in with new send money apps each day.
The Safety of Money Transfer Apps
While a send money app can be safe, they’re not trustworthy. For example, if you end up sending money to the wrong number, it could cost you when you’re sending money again. Also, the possibility of getting back that money sent mistakenly to the wrong account is very low. Therefore, a rule of thumb is to never forward money to people you don’t know.
You should ensure that you know the rules of P2P because there’s no law that dictates that they must help you recover money sent to the wrong account numbers.
Are These Apps Potential Scam?
Unfortunately, you’ll never be able to get rid of scammers, but there are different ways to avoid getting scammed. Some ways people go about scamming others on the P2P platforms are through fraudulent sellers, ticket scams, malicious emails, and romance and puppy scams. Scams can happen to anyone, so be careful when you’re sending money to anyone outside of your family.
How Can I Secure Myself When Sending Money?
While P2P is all about doing transactions quickly and easily, rechecking your information when sending money won’t hurt. Below are some steps you can take to keep your cash safe.
• Enable your extra security settings – some apps will reset to a low-security setting, which will allow others to send money from it without asking for biometrics.
• Send money to persons in your contacts – It’s so easy to mistype a number or email address so instead of having to type in the information, select persons who are already in your contacts.
• Turning on your notifications – If your platform doesn’t do this automatically, then you should. Doing this will allow you to get an email when there’s a transaction being done from your account.
Once you use these money transfer apps safely, they can make your life much easier. You should ensure that you do your research before deciding which one to use. However, fraud happens, therefore you should be careful of the information you use when sending and collecting money.