The latest news on consumer fraud from The New York Times:
“In the pandemic, people have flocked to instant payment apps like Cash App, PayPal’s Venmo and Zelle as they have wanted to avoid retail bank branches and online commerce has become more ingrained. To encourage that shift, the payment apps have added services like debit cards and routing numbers so that they work more like traditional banks.”
“But many people are unaware of how vulnerable they can be to losses when they use these services in place of banks. Payment apps have long had fraud rates that are three to four times higher than traditional payment methods such as credit and debit cards.”
The apps are so easy to use… for fraudsters as well as consumers. and because transactions are instantaneous there is less time to identify fraudulent transactions.
Fraud problems are especially common for users of Square’s Cash App.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/11/technology/fraud-payment-apps.html
Source: Financial Planning for Women