Bizum has become one of the most popular mobile payment methods among the Spanish population. We have standardized its use to pay for a meal with friends, make purchases on the Internet and there are also many businesses that offer this method of payment.
In recent months, mobile payments have increased exponentially due to the pandemic and the health recommendation to reduce the use of cash to avoid the spread of the virus has caused many people to barely carry cash in their wallets and use their mobile as the only usual payment method.
Increasing the use of a service is always tempting for those who want to appropriate the foreign. Scams through payment platforms such as Bizum , a system with which we can send and receive money easily and which already has 16 million users, are the order of the day.
Most frequent scams in Bizum
There are several scams that are the order of the day and many people have fallen into the trap of cybercriminals. Our advice is that you keep up to date with the new tricks used by scammers in order to avoid being deceived when we are about to sell items over the Internet or receive emails or calls requesting personal and / or banking information.
Fake buyers
One of the most common scams is that of fake buyers. Their modus operandi is that they ask to pay for Bizum, but instead of sending the payment, what they do is make a payment request . We can be victims of this scam, for example, when we publish clothes or objects that we no longer use on online sales websites to give them a second life and earn extra money.
The scammer will contact us with an interest in what we sell. The next thing is that once the first contact is maintained, the scammer will make a call to us showing great interest and need to make the purchase. It is at that moment when you receive the request for money instead of the payment. Once the request for money is accepted there is no going back and the scammer ends up receiving the amount of money for which you wanted to sell your item.
Scam with Social Security aid
One of the most dangerous Bizum scams, since it is very easy to fall into the trap, especially if you have completed the paperwork to receive help from Social Security or you are processing unemployment. The criminals make a call to the victim informing him that he has pending the collection of a help and that the data to receive it is not updated in the system. The person making the call says that in a few minutes you will receive an SMS with a validation code that must be accepted and signed, which is actually a message requesting money through Bizum.
The authorities recommend that when an organization such as Social Security, the Post Office or the Treasury asks us for personal data, we distrust and suspect that it is most likely that we are being victims of a scam.
Common mistakes when using the app
On the other hand, in addition to being scammed by criminals through Bizum, there are also common mistakes that users make due to lack of attention and the rush that invades us every day. It is very important to check aspects such as the amount or the telephone number to which we send our money.
Once we send the money there is no going back. If we get confused when selecting the recipient, the only solution will be to contact that person and report the mistake we have made so that they can return the money through another Bizum movement.
In short, paying with your mobile through Bizum or other alternatives is simple, although it has its advantages and disadvantages. So, our recommendation is that if you are going to send money using a payment method through your mobile to a stranger, be alert, you never know when we may be victims of some scam on the Internet.
