Juliana Rodriguez assures that when money transfer apps like Venmo, Cash App, PayPal y Zelle, he felt that his dream of having his financial management, literally at hand, came true. Since she became a faithful user of those methods, which can be used very easily and quickly, thanks to smartphones such as iPhone and Samsung, the Colombian says that she said “goodbye” to the “stress” caused by waiting in lines at banks. The best thing, in her words, was seeing that her money movements “They have no limits or schedules.”
But a couple of months ago, the 39-year-old accountant He had a “tremendous scare” when he noticed a couple of transactions via Zelle, which she had not done, much less authorized. “Together they were more than $1,600 dollars, and although I am always very paranoid about the security of my accounts and my cell phone, and I did not understand how something like this had happened, I remembered that once in a clothing store a woman who talked to me, He asked me to borrow my phone because his daughter supposedly didn’t arrive. That’s when she fooled me in seconds and that’s probably how they robbed me. You have to be ready with those things.“comments the mother of the family, who is just one of the victims who have been the subject of robberies and fraud in New York, in events that have been increasing, according to the authorities.
And in his desire to stop scammers and thieves, and to sound the alarm about the increase in this type of crime, the Manhattan County Prosecutor, Alvin Braggmade an urgent call to companies that handle convenient ways to send cash to strengthen customer protections and not open the door to criminals.
The prosecutor, who explained that many scammers access victims’ locked cell phones, under deception, and even using violent ways to steal with threats of physical harm, sent direct letters to those responsible for the most popular applications urging them to implement more security measures, These include low transfer amount limits, additional password security, extensive monitoring, and longer wait times for large transactions.
“The smartphone itself is no longer the most lucrative target for scammers and thieves: it is the financial applications it contains. Thousands or even tens of thousands of financial accounts can be drained in a matter of seconds with just a few taps,” the official said, warning that users even run risks to their integrity. “Without additional protections, customers’ physical and financial security is put at risk. I hope these companies will accept our request to discuss common sense solutions to deter scammers and protect New Yorkers’ hard-earned money.”
Despite The prosecutor did not reveal figures on the cases that have been reported in the Big Apple, highlighted in the letters that there is a “growing number of incidents in the New York City region related to fraud and theft through the exploitation of mobile financial applications of their companies on personal electronic devices such as iPhones.” He also said that the thefts reach up to five and even six figures.
“In some cases, the scammer requests to use a person’s smartphone for personal use and then quickly sends large amounts of money to themselves through the victim’s financial app. In other cases, the criminal requests a donation for a specific cause, offers to transfer the money directly from the victim’s smartphone, and then transfers important funds to the fraudster’s own account,” Bragg highlighted. “In the most disturbing cases, criminals have violently assaulted or drugged victims, forcing them to provide a password for a device or using biometric identification to open the victim’s phone before transferring money once the individual is incapacitated.”
Aldemar Mendieta, who works selling winter items at a mobile stand in Long Island City, was surprised by the warning call and said he has been using applications like Zelle for a couple of years and so far has not had any problems.
“I didn’t know that they were also stealing through those applications. Many clients pay me this way, which for me is better than with credit or debit cards and the truth is that it seems to me to be very secure,” said the Mexican. “Now, yes, if that is starting to happen, we have to be more attentive, but I also think it is a good idea for companies to look for ways to make us safer. “Thieves will always come up with ways to take our money.”
El fiscal Bragg He was very insistent in stating that if the companies responsible for the money transfer apps had taken additional security measures to prevent unauthorized access to the unlimited use of their financial services, they would have prevented many crimes.
“Failure to take proactive action on behalf of their consumers will result in more illegal behavior and countless unsuspecting victims,” said the Manhattan District Attorney.
Following the claims, the PayPal company warned that they take security very seriously and stressed that they are always working hand in hand with the authorities to prevent more victims from suffering crimes with their money.
Some informal merchants use money apps to receive payments. Photo Edwin Martinez
“In addition to proactively leveraging sophisticated fraud detection tools, manual investigations, and partnering closely with law enforcement agencies to protect our customers against common scams, we have several options to enable enhanced layers of security and protection directly within our applications,” they stated.
For its part, Zelle issued a statement in which it assured that they know that they have presented “isolated criminal incidents”but they also warned that their application is safe.
“Providing secure, reliable service to consumers is the top priority of Early Warning Services, LLC, Zelle’s network operator, and our 2,100 participating banks and credit unions… And as a result of our continued efforts to leverage the strong foundation According to Zelle security, less than one-tenth of one percent of transactions are reported as fraud or scams, and that percentage continues to decline,” they noted.
The Federal Trade Commission revealed that often scammers pose as loved ones in trouble to ask for money to deal with an emergency and there are others who even claim surprising things such as that someone won a prize or a raffle for which you have to pay some charges to be able to receive it.
“The truth is that sending money through a payment app is like sending cash: it is very difficult to get it back. Make sure you know who you’re sending money to when using a payment app. If you are concerned that you are dealing with a scammer, contact the person, bank or company by calling a phone number you know is real to ask if they sent you the application. And you have to know that your bank will never contact you to tell you to transfer money or ask you for personal information or access codes,” the entity warned.
El Diario NY consulted the City’s Department of Consumer Affairs about whether that agency is taking specific measures to prevent scams or fraud through money transfer apps and about complaints they have received, but they did not provide any response.
Recommendations to avoid scams and fraud in money apps
- Add a second, separate password to access the app on a smartphone as the default security option. Multi-factor authentication establishes an additional level of security and should be the standard to protect consumers
- Impose predetermined lower limits on the monetary amount of total daily transfers. Transaction limits would reduce the amount of money that can be stolen from a user if a theft occurs, and reduce the incentive for criminals to steal unlocked devices
- Require wait times and secondary verification of up to one day for large monetary transactions. This would give the user time to cancel large transactions that were made without their permission and reduce the chances of large amounts of money being stolen at once.
- Better monitor accounts for unusual transfer activity and request confirmation when suspicious transactions occur (for example, unusually large monetary transactions, late-night monetary transactions, etc.). Similar to most credit card companies’ policies, this would add an extra layer of security to their product to prevent fraudulent transactions.
2024-01-29 14:03:50
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