In
the end, it goes to show traditional payment methods suffer from a lot of
security issues.
During
the 2016 holiday
weekend, global online sales have seen a significant nudge upwards. At the
same time, payment card fraud increased by a whopping 20%. Consumer’s financial
details are always at risk when dealing with payment cards these days. Bitcoin
is a far safer option, as there is no sensitive personal information leaked during
the transaction process.
The
rise in payment fraud during the 2016 holiday shopping season is not
surprising. Both Black Friday and Cyber Monday saw an influx of global customers.
However, this transaction volume makes it harder to determine which
transactions are legitimate. But the concerns ago much deeper, as five types of
fraud reports were filed.
First
of all, there is credit card fraud.
Everyone knows payment cards are inherently insecure, and provide significant
risks to both owner and retailer. Very few companies perform thorough checks of
payment card data when processing an order, making life easier for criminals
shopping online.
Bitcoin Remains the Safe
Way To Shop Online
Identity
theft is another major concern, particularly during the holiday season. Vast
amounts of personal information are floating around on the Internet, and
criminals will sniff out sensitive details with relative ease. Thanks to email
scams, which complete the top three, users are often tricked into giving up
that type of information as well.
Promotion
abuse is another popular trend, although its impact can often be negated. Users
will experience annoyance through this type of fraud, but it should not affect
them in a significant manner. Account takeover, on the other hand, is far more
troublesome. Hacked social media profiles become far more common during the
holiday season. Mostly due to consumers being more careless with their
passwords.
During
Black Friday and Cyber Monday, mobile transactions were on the rise as well.
Although mobile devices are commonly used for payments, they are not secure.
Malware, scareware, and remote access trojans are just a few of the looming
threats. Consumers storing payment information on these devices are at risk at
any given time.
In
the end, it goes to show traditional payment methods suffer from a lot of
security issues. Bitcoin is a more secure solution, as no sensitive information
can be obtained by analyzing transactions. Unfortunately, cryptocurrency is not
as widespread when it comes to online shopping. But that situation can change
at any given moment.
