Banking application fraud has become so common in recent times with customers losing their hard earned money to scammers.
The payment technology sector and the banking industry are increasingly thriving on apps. This is why almost each of the 24 banks in Nigeria has an app for their customers when it comes to mobile or online banking.
There is the need for every bank customer to get acquainted with identity theft prevention tips before and after they download banking apps to their smartphone.
Having an app from your bank on a smartphone or tablet computer is incredibly convenient, but you need to watch out for fakes, according to www.creditcards.com.
The ICT world has become global so you need to get to know certain things going on globally. About a year ago, owners of Android smartphones began downloading mobile banking apps from Google’s Android Market. The apps cost about $1.50 each and connected users with about 40 major banks in the United States, including Bank of America and Wells Fargo.
However, there was only one problem: The banks hadn’t put them there.
The apps were created by a developer known only as 09Droid whose identity remains a mystery to this day. Once the fraud was discovered, Google removed the apps from its marketplace, but not before many users had downloaded them to their smartphones.
The fraudulent apps were apparently intended simply to milk people out of $1.50 each. Still the threat of phishing – stealing bank log-in and password info – was so obvious that many banks recommended that customers who had downloaded them actually have their mobile service provider remove the apps from their phones.
The deception was only discovered by a fluke. A mobile banking software executive happened to be playing with his wife’s Android phone when he noticed an app from a bank that was one of his clients. He knew the app couldn’t be legit – because it if were, his own company would have created it. This raises the alarming possibility that other fraudulent financial apps could still be out there, undiscovered.
As mobile banking is simply too convenient to ignore, is there a way to do it safely? Yes, experts say, if you follow a few precautions.
According to www.creditcards.com, there are safety tips you need to know before and after you download your banking app.
Before you download a bank or financial app:
Consider the app store.
Different app stores have different standards for which apps they’ll offer to the public. Google’s Android Market is famously open, accepting nearly every app developers submit, while Apple’s App Store puts apps through rigorous testing first. When the online payment company mPayy wanted to publish its apps, “we just published our app to the Android market, while Apple looked at the entire code base and tried out every feature of the application. We also had to fax our articles of incorporation to Apple,” says mPayy Chief Executive Officer, Conrad Sheehan.
Though developers love the free-for-all world of the Android market, users should be cautious when downloading financial apps from there. One good alternative may be a more “curated” market, such as Verizon’s Media Store. Another would be to download the app directly from your financial institution’s website, or follow a link from there to its Android market app. In Nigeria, it is better you download your banking app from your bank’s website.
A lot of banking apps will ask if you want to save your password or stay logged in. You definitely don’t want to do that on a mobile device.
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