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Why do payment systems devote a lot of time to security?

2016-06-11 00:00:00

The modern world involves the widespread use of electronic payment systems and ensuring their security. We all constantly work on the Internet, purchases and sales have migrated there for a long time, which means that electronic money is no less popular. Such systems are a tasty morsel for fraudsters who are inventing more and more ways to hack the security system and steal money from ordinary people. It is important to fight this, and therefore, for their safety, payment systems carefully check all the data entered in their archives and devote a lot of time and money to the process of improving the safety of user deposits. 

Electronic money is an analogue of cash used in electronic payment systems. When starting a wallet in such schemes, you get your number, where you can transfer virtual money, and then withdraw it in cash or to a card, or you can even not withdraw it and pay with it. Electronic currencies under security assume an important definition, for example, you will not be able to use them until the person who transferred them to you removes protection - this is called protection against fraud and a guarantee of a fair transaction.

The advantages of electronic currencies include:

  • Efficiency of receipt, ease of use. Payment systems work around the clock, so you can make both purchases and payments at any time via the Internet.
  • They are convenient to use - simple and intuitive to use.
  • Saving money on transfers.
  • Confidentiality of payments.
  • No cost of keeping money.

But along with the pros, there are also disadvantages:

  • Restriction of use - not all products can be bought with electronic money.
  • In the absence of the Internet, there is no access to the wallet either.
  • There is a variant of hacking by scammers or theft.

To exclude the last point, the owners of these systems and users themselves pay great attention to the security of electronic payment systems.

What can be recommended to the user to protect their funds:

  • Create several wallets and store the amounts on them in equal parts, so that if one wallet is hacked, then the amount is not lost. 
  • Keep access to the wallet in a safe place and do not share your data with anyone.
  • Change passwords regularly to ensure security in payment systems.
  • Install a reliable antivirus on your PC or smartphone so that scammers cannot extract your data from them.
  • Do not enter wallets when using an unsecured Wi-Fi connection.
  • Do not set a remembering password on the sites used.
  • Do not open suspicious letters and do not reply to them, do not use outside links.
  • Do not store wallet data on a computer or in the mail, and when entering, fill in the number and password personally, without copying them from other sources.

These simple ways can help keep your savings safe.

Achieving the security of payment systems is an important matter, so lets look at how fraudsters hack into wallets and bypass all the tricks and protections in order to be fully armed and resist this.

Petty e-money security fraud

This is a type of scam, which is based primarily on sending spam, allegedly on behalf of a representative or client of an electronic system. These types of fraud include the following:

  • A request for help is not even a type of fraud, since a person simply asks to transfer money to his account, literally 1 ruble or 1 cent. Some respond and do not even suspect that there can be many such responsive people, and the scammer will collect a decent amount. If you add pity to the request, you get extortion. In this case, the request remains the same - to transfer a little money to the account, but the condition is added why you must help a person - this is the poverty of the family or the inability to feed the pet. For this, punishment is already threatened, up to a criminal one.

  • Letters allegedly from the administration of electronic payment systems with a request to transfer a certain amount, otherwise the clients wallet will be blocked. Remember, payment systems never engage in such begging. To avoid trouble, look at the senders address, but it can also be inconspicuous and easily falsified.
  • Letters allegedly from former employees of electronic payment systems who have learned to bypass their security. Now they share the secrets of doubling money and ask for a rather big percentage for it. Never give in to such provocations.

Medium-sized e-money security fraud

  • The so-called Nigerian letters. Most likely you have already received them. A letter arrives, usually in English, where an old grandfather from Nigeria complains that he will soon die, and he has no heirs left. Therefore, he randomly chose your address and decided to give you an inheritance of an incredible amount of 250 thousand dollars. All you need is your consent and transfer details. Having received the details, scammers hack them and steal funds from your account.
  • In a similar way, notifications that your ip or email address won the lottery work, but you will need to pay a commission to send a prize or receive money. After the transfer of money, the magic lottery disappears rapidly.
  • Threats. You receive a letter stating that if you don’t transfer a certain amount to your account, then they will complain to your address for sending spam and delete it from the system. To get out of the situation, report spam and threats in response.
  • Offer a value item for half the price, or for free but with shipping charges. Here, it could be anything from Chinese porcelain to land. Having paid the amount, of course, the valuable thing disappears, as does the one who offered it. 
  • Counterfeiting websites of electronic payment systems. You receive an email with a sender similar to the wallet administrator asking for additional verification or a similar procedure on the website at the link. Getting into a similar site and entering data, you become victims of scammers who steal money from your account. To avoid this, follow the news of payment systems - their security is provided in a different way.
  • Spam asking for charity. They offer to help children, animals or believers in exchange for transferring money to a specific account. These may be real requests, but more often than not they are fraudulent. To avoid this, do not react to such letters, and if you really want to help, then it is better to do it personally and at the expense of the institution itself, which is most often a bank and is in the public domain.
  • The same spam can also come from allegedly the payment systems themselves, with a request to help those in need. Again, follow the news of payment systems, as in this case, the security of electronic currencies will be at risk.

 

Major fraud or deception of payment systems and their security

  • In Russia, fortunately, this has not yet been observed, but the worlds payment systems sometimes act openly and even arrogantly. Such systems can simply shut down or block individual countries, declaring them to be a threat to themselves and accusing them of violating security in payment systems. Money, of course, remains in the systems, and it is not clear who takes it. In the same way, sending a forgotten password to an e-mail address can act, which can be easily hacked or completely changed and blocked. Here it is up to the scammers. In Russia, the popular WebMoney system used to send passwords to e-mail as well, but with the introduction of passports, the security level has become much higher.
  • One-day online stores. They offer an attractive prepaid product, but the paid product does not reach the user. Or, the user registers on this site to make a purchase, and his address and password fall into the hands of scammers. This method is called phishing.
  • Use of SMS and mobile communications. It is often possible to receive a message on a mobile phone about a win or blocking. To receive a valuable prize, you will have to follow a link that contains either a virus or hacking content, and to unblock it, you need to send an SMS, which is incredibly expensive. There may also be supposedly hot lines, the cost of a call to which reaches several thousand rubles, or clicking on a banner on the Internet, which will not only bring a virus to you, but will also receive all data on your computer, including those that threaten the security of electronic money. All kinds of subscriptions or downloads of books or music, with a request to enter a mobile phone number or e-mail address, operate similarly. Some scammers can go even further and ask the user for his passport data, which is also easy to hack into any wallets or, even easier, apply for a loan.
  • Using Trojans to get money from a deceived user. Here they can hack from mail to bank card passwords. They can imitate programs for installing antivirus or popular programs, for example, Photoshop or the like.
  • Users who, when entering the payment system, do not enter the number manually, but copy it from other sources, may face fraud in the form of dynamic spoofing. For this, a special program has been developed that violates safety principles. Therefore, enter wallet numbers and passwords only manually.
  • Using programs to steal codes and passwords. Usually these are Trojans that are installed stealthily and unnoticed. They act on the principle of intercepting traffic from the user; open Wi-Fi can be used. Thus, the security of electronic money in the system and your data is at risk.
  • Locking the computer, again, using Trojans and extorting money to return it to working condition. They declare a threat to the security of users electronic payment systems.

Today, online fraud that compromises the security of electronic payment systems is extremely popular. Fraudsters are inventing the latest methods, developing new hacking programs and new methods of carrying out their activities. Therefore, it is important to protect yourself from them in accessible ways and carefully read letters coming from strangers. In case of fixing a hacking attempt, contact the appropriate authorities or warn other users. This is a common cause, to which everyone should contribute.

Unfortunately, many people are gullible, and therefore easily deceived. To exclude this method of making money, it is recommended to improve your Internet literacy, at least for the example in this article. So you will protect yourself and your loved ones. Be sure to tell your friends, relatives and friends about possible tricks with hacking passwords and mail so that they are ready and put their computers in order.  

Security in payment systems is achieved through joint efforts. Many payment systems are now introducing complex multi-level user checks so that no one can get hold of their customers data. The guarantee of the safety of funds and the protection of users from fraudsters give a significant advantage to the use of these particular systems. Some of the systems have reached such a level that in order to carry out large sums, a persons virtualization is necessary, that is, a personal visit to the companys office with identity documents. Others apply sophisticated checks and provide e-currency withdrawal in other ways, a complex security process applicable only to the true owner of the wallets.

All this makes the achievement of the security of electronic money a truly global process that affects all spectra of a persons lifestyle. Only in this way the fight against fraudsters reaches the highest level and seeks to protect the client comprehensively.