Person-to-person payment apps have made our lives so much easier and convenient. Tropical Financial Credit Union’s Vice President of Marketing, Amy McGraw, joined Inside South Florida to share tips to help you avoid the hassle of dealing with erroneous payments and fraudulent charges.
Verifying a recipient’s contact information is one of the first steps to protecting yourself.
“If you don't verify that the number is correct, you've potentially just dropped whatever money you were sending onto the street to that phone number,” says McGraw. “There's absolutely nothing your financial institution can do in those cases.”
Mistakenly sending money to the wrong person is a common error but all hope is not lost if you act quickly.
“If you realize that you did this, there is a ‘Contact Us,’ form on every single one of those apps. Immediately jump on there and say, ‘I did this’,” says McGraw. “A lot of times they can reverse it, but you have to do it fast. If you don't do it before the other person picks up the money, you are kind of out of options.”
Purchasing merchandise using these apps can pose other risks.
“Do not use one of these apps to pay for things online,” says McGraw. “If you don't receive the product, you're not going to get your money back. This is not protected like using your credit card online.”
Transfer money securely by using two-factor authentication. It may help you to evade scammers and save time and money.
“There are all these apps that offer two-factor authentication if the app you're using itself doesn't offer it. Duo Mobile is one you can use,” says McGraw. “If anybody does try to impersonate me, I get a notification from Duo Mobile. It gives an extra layer of protection if somebody is able to get a hold of your identity and tries to spoof your phone number.”
For more information, visit TropicalFCU.com
This Inside South Florida segment is paid for by Tropical Financial Credit Union.
