Paying online is so trivial today that most people don’t even have the slightest doubt about safety or protection. All these things are perceived as the ones that should be there by default. The truth is that most payment systems are indeed protected and safe, and most people just use the same e-wallets or cards repeatedly so they are sure that their transactions are safe.
However, security breaches or other nuances always pose a slight risk. Sometimes, certain online shops or merchants can look fraudulent or offer payment methods or procedures that make people wonder. This is why being aware of the most secure payment methods available is something worth your time.
In this post, we discuss several of the most protected online payment methods.
Apple Pay & Google Pay
E-wallets like Apple Pay, Google Wallet, and other providers offer mobile apps that are integrated into the smartphone’s system and allow users to pay quickly in a contactless way or by tapping. Swiping a credit card and indicating a PIN code is almost a thing of the past (although it still exists and some people still do that).
Apple Pay and Google Pay can be connected to local bank accounts in most countries and enable the user to pay directly from their account or card via the e-wallet with their phone. The key point here is that the phone verifies the payment via FaceID or TouchID, or at least a password of the device, and not via entering any banking data like a PIN. The less data is exposed to any third parties at the moment of making a payment, the better.
Moreover, these e-wallets usually have very small to no fees applied in a predictable and calculatable way. Most online shops and merchants accept these payments seamlessly and each e-wallet app allows users to track the transactions. If you, say, play at CasinosHunter.com Google Pay casinos in Canada and want to track your spending, these e-wallets will do that.
Apple Pay and Google Wallet are among the most popular and widespread ones, used on iOS and Android devices correspondingly.
Prepaid Vouchers
It may not seem like the case but prepaid vouchers like Neosurf and other systems can be very safe and convenient for online payments. Let’s discuss their advantages in detail in the example of Neosurf.
Neosurf offers physical and online vouchers that can be purchased online and offline. Each voucher has a certain sum of money on it, and to make a payment, the user only has to indicate the voucher’s unique 16-digit code. No other data about the user or the payment is exposed to the merchant or any third party whatsoever.
Neosurf allows you to make more than one payment from one voucher if you haven’t spent all the money at once (but you cannot use more than one voucher together to increase the sum you can pay online with this system though). Its vouchers do not expire until you actually use the money. There is a small fee that can be taken by the system if the voucher has not been used for over a year.
Neosurf is an excellent example of a prepaid voucher that allows you to pay online without exposing almost any data at all.
Bank-Integrated Payment Methods
Bank-integrated e-wallets are comparatively new things in the industry and they are also quite revolutionary. Services like Trustly, Zimpler, and others, are unique in many turns yet very reliable and safe.
The point of Trustly or Zimpler is to integrate a safe online payment method with a bank account so that the user can pay online as if they were using a simple e-wallet. However, because banks work with these online payment systems directly, now users can pay without all this typical bureaucracy that banks love so much.
(And they do have a valid point about it for the sake of protecting their customers’ data but it doesn’t make things easier when it comes to online payments).
Now, Trustly, Zimpler, Instadebit, and other services use unique verification methods to confirm the user’s identity and transaction without the need to indicate the bank data or personal data on the merchant’s website.
One of the best parts about these systems is that they not only allow you to pay but also get paid. This is a unique feature that most e-wallets do not have and most banks simply prohibit. But Trustly, Zimpler, and Instadebit enable their customers to receive payments from online platforms like Patreon, video gaming platforms, etc.
Cryptocurrencies
Despite some scandalous stories of successes and losses caused by different cryptocurrencies’ volatility, the fact is that the technology of crypto is still very safe and reliable. While there are not so many online platforms where crypto payments are accepted, you still cannot deny the fact that these payments are very safe, anonymous, trackable, transparent, and irreversible. That makes crypto one of the safest payment systems, although still not that practical in everyday life.
