While a traditional form of payment, checks were never really all that reliable. Payments can be delayed, funds may be insufficient, and even worse can happen. Online payments aren’t much better. To bring customers the convenience of paying anywhere, they need to sacrifice their security. Considering implementing an IVR payment solution to accept payments. Otherwise, things can get a little terrifying.
Payment Risks
As with a lot of things, there is a specific risk when it comes to the various payment methods. Here are just a few risks when it comes to some of the more popular payment methods.
Paying By Check
Submitted for your approval, Queen resident Brian Halbreich writes a check to his credit card company to make a payment on his account. He drops off his payment into a local mailbox, but soon enough he finds out that the credit card never got his payment.
His check made a wrong turn into the hands of an identity thief.
Fortunately, Brian Halbreich was lucky. He was about to go through his banking records he discovered that his check had been altered and made out to “Nico Youngblood.” He was about to contact his bank to and explain the situation quickly. Not a lot of people will bother to check.
This story took place on October 8th. Police have warned residents to be on the lookout for a group of thieves that are fishing out envelopes out of mailboxes. The thieves themselves are targeting bill payments, which would contain checks. With a little acetone, a thief can alter the recipient or the amount. They then are about to cash the check right away to avoid detection.
“We are aware of these issues and have arrested eight (8) individuals for this crime in the Jackson Heights area,” a U.S. Postal Inspection Service spokesperson said in a statement. “We continue to investigate criminal acts against the U.S. Mail, while implementing additional innovative methods to safeguard the mail.”
However, Brian Halbrieich is not alone. The NYPD said several more cases were reported in the Bronx. Earlier his month in East Harlem, NY thieves managed to get their hands on over $56,000 worth of checks. Worse yet, many of these checks were supposed to go towards paying the rent. Now, these victims risk eviction for merely trying to pay their rent.
Meanwhile, Mr. Halbreich said he’ll make payments online from now on.
Paying Bills Online
Online payments can be better. However, they still have their risks. Over 41 million Americans get their identity stolen each year. That’s pretty scary.
To make a payment, a customer would need to be a little tech savvy to be genuinely secure. The customer would need to make sure to update their internet browser to the latest version. Installing a spyware and malware program would also help to protect them a bit more. However, to be truly secure, they would need to only make payments from that very safe home computer.
Paying bills online isn’t as secure as one would think. While they could do it while getting a cup of coffee from their local shop, it’s not a good idea. Public Wi-Fi networks leave people ripe for the picking when it comes to stealing information.
Unless they are tech savvy, there is a good chance that they could be affected.
Have You Considered IVR Payments?
With an IVR phone payment solution, customer payments are safe. Payments can be safely made in the middle of a coffee shop, or anywhere else. A customer doesn’t need to be a tech genius to use it. Making a payment can be as easy as making a phone call, or even sending a text.
Is it safe?
Yes. Our solution, Compass Pay, allow convenient payments, without compromising security. We built our phone payment solution, Compass Pay with data security in mind. Our company is PCI Level 1 Compliant, the highest level of security compliance that a service provider can receive.