Using mobile payment wallet? These incidents are timely reminders of how to keep money safe

Mobile payment wallets have made life easy for people. But at the same time, new types of dangers have emerged. Two users of Ola Money mobile payment wallet experienced one such danger recently in Mumbai.

For online payment apps, set a very strong password. Also, avoid using unsecured, public Wi-Fi networks for payments. Representative Image/Pixabay

Mobile payment wallets have made life easy for people. But at the same time, new types of dangers have emerged. Two users of Ola Money mobile payment wallet experienced one such danger recently in Mumbai. According to a report by the Times of India, two users were duped by the Ola cab driver into sharing OTPs for payment. In one incident, after booking the Ola cab, the user called the driver to find the latter's location. The driver said he was finding it difficult to reach the destination and asked to share the OTP sent by Ola via SMS. The user unsuspectedly shared the OTP but later found he had lost Rs 10,000 from his Ola Money account. In a similar incident, another user lost Rs 4000 from his Ola Money account.

As per the report, both users believe the driver along with accomplishes had taken over their Ola Money accounts with the help of the OTPs and spent the money for shopping. Ola has suspended the driver.
The Mumbai incident shows how mobile payment wallets may put users in trouble. However, such troubles can be avoided by being alert. Awareness of best practices is also necessary. For example, you should never share the OTP like the two users mentioned above did.

Ola Money says on its website that all transmission between users and the app are done securely. "Ola will never release any of your card details to anyone and we only use your email address and phone number for all your records. All your sensitive personal data is stored in a secure, encrypted manner. Your credit card details are stored in compliance with PCI/DSS guidelines through our payment gateway. Also, we run a bug bounty program to continuously improvise our security architecture, besides extensive internal security monitoring and reviews," says Ola Money website.

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Ola Money uses a One-Time Password (OTP) to authenticate the user and protect payment credentials.

Before using any mobile wallet, you should also keep the following points in mind:

- Always download the payment app from official stores like Google Play and Apple Store.

- Before downloading the app, you should verify the publisher.

- While providing permission to the app, carefully read what you are allowing. In case the app asks you for more permissions than what you think are required, don't proceed further. You can try to get a clarification on your doubt from the official publishers through their social media handles.

- Avoid clicking on offer links sent to you by unknown sources.

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