Bitcoin can effectively prevent Christmas online shopping scams

With Christmas shopping at its most frenetic, consumers are more eager to buy last-minute gifts on websites and apps than ever before. So it’s no surprise that this time of year is when people’s financial details are most likely to be stolen. So consumers need to be vigilant and tread carefully.

Online fraud: websites and apps

A smartphone app that looks and acts like an Amazon app , but is designed to defraud unsuspecting consumers, was recently uncovered by cybersecurity researchers at Zscaler. Even more worrying is how the app will do its job after users attempt to uninstall the malware from their devices.

It’s great that this particular app has come to light through media coverage, but it’s just the tip of the iceberg. Considering that 40% of online fraud occurs in the fourth quarter of each year, consumers must be more careful about protecting their financial details. Some deals may seem too good to be true, but in most cases, they are just scams set up to steal personal information.

A powerful mix of factors makes the holiday shopping period of great interest to hackers and scammers each year. On the one hand, countless people are striking deals and buying gifts online, and the lower the bid, the greater the chance that the consumer will place an order on the site or app.

Another topic is how consumers reuse passwords for various accounts and services online. A hacked Facebook account can access online banking details, and everything goes downhill from there. Add to that consumers' reliance on traditional financial services that were never intended to be used online, such as credit cards.

Another driver of online fraud is the introduction of EMA plastic chip cards, which make it even more difficult to obtain card details from physical payment terminals. Unfortunately, this is likely to lead to more fraud in the e-commerce sector, where financial details are already poorly protected.

Bitcoin is a safer alternative

We should put more energy into ensuring that consumers can always protect their financial details, and in fact, Bitcoin can be an alternative solution to this problem. Unlike credit cards, hackers cannot steal the necessary personal information from an ordinary Bitcoin transaction, so the popular Bitcoin has not encountered fraud and chargebacks.

Or making Bitcoin a global payment method, allowing retailers and consumers to transact around the world without having to worry about card acceptance and bank compatibility. Unfortunately, the popular digital currency has not yet become a mainstream payment method, but it is an option worth considering for both consumers and retailers.