How social media became safer than the typical bank account

You don’t need to work in the tech industry to realise that social media is huge right now. It’s harder to find someone who doesn’t use at least one site than it is someone who needs it almost every hour of every day. The internet has played a big role in helping to change the face of banking, but one is probably safer than the other, and the answer might surprise you!

Unfortunately, it seems that social media is actually safer than the average bank account. As the example of a multi-million dollar scam which spanned a number of continents showed, it seems to be surprisingly easy for the security of some accounts, debit and credit cards to become compromised. Social media accounts, on the other hand, don’t seem to get hacked as often.

From stripe to swipe

How the scam, worth an estimated $45m, was undertaken started with details being stolen from a number of accounts. Then, all the relevant data was uploaded onto several debit cards bearing old-style magnetic stripes. Once that was done, the cards were used to withdraw as much money as possible from ATMs all over the world, costing a number of beleaguered card holders thousands.

A lack of safety is also commonplace whenever money is exchanged online. Criminals are able to intercept any transaction and take the money for themselves if they have the knowhow and the relevant security structures in place are too weak. Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act offers some protection for anyone shopping with a credit card, but the same doesn’t go for debit cards.

The fight-back begins

“If you haven’t authorised an online payment and claiming to be victims of fraud the banks should give customers the benefit of the doubt and while debit card protection offered isn’t a legal obligation it is possible for you to claim a refund if a card is proven to be used fraudulently,” commented a spokesperson from Yorkshire Building Society.

Two-step authentication has become the norm for banking of late, either via telephone or online. Aside from a password or PIN number, customers will also have to enter an additional piece of data such as the answer to a security question or a Captcha if online. Having two layers of entry should make it harder for bank accounts to be intercepted by someone who doesn’t have permission.