How safe is PayPal compared to a credit card? Without a doubt, we can agree that when it comes to secured transactions, PayPal is on top of the game. And the truth is that the work to secure the user’s accounts and other related challenges never ends, not even in 2022.
As of 2021, PayPal has risen to over 277 million active users all around the world. Both of these two platforms are carefully designed to make it safe to send as well as receive money online from any part of the world.
Read Also: How To Open a PayPal Account That Receives Money in Nigeria
PayPal took its source from an American FinTech company whose headquarters is in San Josse, California, United States. It has been in existence since 1998 and then became the medium of purchasing items on eBay. But come to think of it, If PayPal weren’t as safe or safer than a credit card, check, or cash, then it would surely have been flagged as one of the failed technology of the century and as such become a subject to reconstruction by the developer long ago.
Despite this, many people still ask, is PayPal safe than a credit card? Perhaps this isn’t even the right way to structure this question. PayPal has an already built sophisticated technology designed to keep all your transaction as safe as possible, but the security of your own PayPal account and your money is subject to how well you can use this technology to your advantage. Your security is most effective as a customer if and only if you take the right precautions required of you as a PayPal account user.
So Then:
- PayPal’s major goal is to ensure swift, safe transactions between you as a seller and your customers.
- Credit cards issuers also have attractive incentives to ensure safe transactions. You will not be held responsible for any fraudulent purchases beyond a maximum of $50.
- Your part as an account owner requires you to take some preventive measures to guard yourself again fraud either with PayPal or via a credit card.
PayPal- What It Offers
From 1998 till this day, PayPal remains the default payment option on eBay. In 2019, It also became the 5th most used payment gateway by all online retailers after the likes of MasterCard, American Express, and Discover. It offers several features and related products that enable customers to send and receive money. Some of these products are:
- The Mobile App:- This enables you to make transactions without contact with the customer.
- Venmo Mobile App:- This is majorly used for B2B money transfers and some daily routine transactions.
- Xoom:– This is a person-to-person payment app use that allows you to make electronic transactions globally.
- PayPal Cash Card:-This is a Mastercard debit card used online or in-store.
- PayPal Credit Card
- In 2020, PayPal also started allowing its users to buy, hold sell and check out with cryptocurrency.
All these technologies by PayPal are designed with the principal aim of ensuring smooth and secured online transactions.
Is PayPal Safe?
As of the first quarter of 2021, there were over 3.74 billion successful transactions via PayPal. In the second quarter of 2021 with over 377 active account holders with over $285 billion digital payment processed during this period. PayPal recorded a net payment volume of about $311 billion. All these figures aren’t accumulated by trial by error. They were due to the fact that PayPal is a payment method that could be trusted.
All transaction made on PayPal is sent with end-to-end encryption which thwarts any intruder that might want to capture information of people’s transactions. This implies that non of your financial transaction details are not revealed to any other party, not been to the receiver.
There is also the option of two-factor authorization makes each transaction even more secured. After you must have given access to the security key feature on the App, you will be given a temporary security code via an SMS which you will enter added to your preferred password.
Here are PayPal six recommendations for the prevention of any fraudulent activities:
- Ensure the OS and business software are up to date
- Users should set strong passwords
- Ensure that the buyer is the one to enter the card’s CVV
- Verify your billing address via the recommended method.
- Set purchase amount limit for your account.
- Track your transactions and balance up (reconcile) your account daily.
Take home:
PayPal is not vulnerable to hackers or intruders, you are. Hackers will keep looking for your vulnerabilities via your account purchase activities.
Security Measure & Precautions
There are many other security policies that PayPal has designed to curb any form of fraudulent activities and manipulations that are common to e-commerce websites.
- It ensures that users are fully reimbursed, that is, If a product is purchased online via Paypal and what the buyer got is different from the description that what put online, say you ordered for a red cap and you got a blue cap, the policy will not cover all purchase, but suppose a buyer orders for a shoe and when the product arrives a cap was delivered, then the PayPal Purchase Protection policy covers you.
- If your order that you have paid for wasn’t delivered to you, you can report it to PayPal and a refund will be given back to you.
- You are not liable for any unauthorized purchase on your account if you can report it within the first 60 days.
Which is Safer: PayPal or Credit Card?
When it comes to security, PayPal is definitely on top of the game. They surely meet up with the industry’s standards when it comes to electronic transactions. Of course, not every bank that issues a credit card meets up all these industry standards.
To cap it up, PayPal also pays hackers if they find any form of vulnerability in the system, this is otherwise known as ethical hacking. It ensures that the system is protected by those who have higher tech ability than the potential hackers themselves.
Are Credit Cards Safe?
The safety of credit card users cannot be categorically stated. Credit card companies have refused to employ the same cybersecurity technique employed by PayPal. The banking industry does not pay hackers to alert them of potential security flaws. This implies that the industry does not employ the white hat ethical hacking security technique and as such are prone to black hat hackers- Financial Service Roundtable.
Possible Frauds a Credit Card Users Are Prone To
There are two basic categories of fraud which are: 1. Card present 2. Card not present.
The first one happens when a card is physically stolen or lost and the person who saw or stole it then uses it for dubious means. While the second category of fraud means that even though the card is still present with you, but the card information has been stolen by another person, which with this information, such person can make transactions with the card online before you can find a means to block the card.
Basic Security Measure
Most credit card companies are investing heavily to match up with the security level that PayPal has adopted. But definitely, not all of them can measure up to this standard of PayPal, with some more advanced than the other.
The recent switch from a magnetic strip that is swiped along the side of the reader to a card that uses a chip inserted into a reader to make transactions is one of the biggest positive changes to the card anti-fraud technology. The presence of a microchip in the card makes stealing information hard as all data is encrypted.
This method of using cards called (Europay, MasterCard, and Visa) EMV has made using cards in stores, supermarkets, or any other place safer preventing theft of your card information.
With this aspect of physical use of cards being sorted out with the EMV technology. This leaves the user to now take precautions in being careful not to carelessly disclose their card information while making purchases online.
Some Security Breaches
Recently, there seems to be quite a number of security breaches of both PayPal and Credit Card. And oftentimes, most of these breaches are a result of the altitude of the end-users. Some of the notable breaches to Credit card is that of Capital One, TJX Companies, and The Home Depot.
Some other forms of breaches arise from the point-of-sale, where malware is targeted to retailers who store their credit card information in ways that make it very vulnerable to blackhat hackers.
Unfortunately too, PayPal security has been called into question too as ethical hackers found a way to bypass some of these PayPal security features such as the two-factor authentication [2FA] and the one-time pin. But it was diplomatically brushed off.
How To Protect Yourself
For your account safety on the web or offline, most of the security measures are the work of the account users to do and not the issuer. Be it PayPal, Credit Card, American Express either a Personal account or Business account, a Virtual account, or a plastic card.
Here are a few tips to protecting your plastic credit cards:
- Use bank only to withdraw cash
- Pay for gas inside the station, not at the pump, it is quite easy to hack into the gas pump and steal your card information.
- Chop off any card that has not chip in it again.
- Ensure to block any card immediately with your bank USSD code if you seem not to find it anymore.
- Avoid sending someone to withdraw for you with your Credit card.
Here are a few security tips while using PayPal or Credit Card To Make a purchase online:
- Ensure to make purchases only on-site that are secured with HTTPS in the URL, never input your card into a website with just HTTP in the URL.
- Avoid the use of public Wi-Fi. YOu can use VPN instead.
- Do not store your credit card information online for the sake of remembering it for future use. Anytime you see such options of saving your card for future use on a website, always click “NO”
- Avoid clicking unnecessary links that might have access to your account.
- Beware of granting permission to Apps and sites that you aren’t sure of their security standard on your mobile and desktop.
- Ensure to change the password of your credit card frequently. And always go for the passwords that will not be easy to guess by another person.
- Avoid giving your to someone else to purchase for you online.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are answers to some frequently asked questions on PayPal and Credit Card
Is PayPal Safer than Credit Card?
When it comes to security and protection and of users’ privacy and accounts, PayPal is definitely on top of the game. With secured end-to-end encryption that makes your information known to only you even when you are dealing with your seller makes the process is very trustworthy and secured.
Credit Card companies have also been pushing very hard to ensure that their users get the very best of secured services, and in addition to this, they have allotted to cover up for only $50 of the first fraudulent purchase made through your account.
Generally, thwarting theft, fraudsters and hackers are what companies like this will keep on battling from time to time. But the vital part of the whole process now depends on the customer’s being extra careful in taking adequate measures to prevent and protect their account details, be it plastic card or electronic App
Can I Link PayPal to Bank Account?
Yes. It is totally safe to link your PayPal account to your bank account. And you might decide to deposit your fund directly into your Paypal wallet bypassing the linking of the Card.
When any of these methods is chosen, any transaction you make is encrypted and no one else will have access to your account except you. And it is much cheaper to pay directly from your bank account as no additional fee will be charged.
Can I be Scammed on PayPal
There are cases where you might order for something with a particular description and what will be delivered to you will be entirely different from what you will get, or you might not even get the product you ordered at all. This type of scam is quite possible using PayPal.
However, the PayPal policies cover it all. If you have at least two good reasons to present to PayPal, your complaint will be looked into and you might get a refund for such an unsuccessful order.
Importantly, a common scam alert is an email that suggests you “Update or download the latest version of PayPal”. Do not click on such links. Visit the PayPal website directly to check if there is any information about updating the app or not.
Can I Trust PayPal With My Debit Card?
Yes. You can also link your debit card to your PayPal account. Just like in the case of a transaction via a credit card, all your details and data are encrypted.
Is PayPal Safe To Receive Money?
Yes. PayPal is trusted by a lot of people and has one of the best security to protect the data, information, and transactions of their customers.
Conclusion
Both PayPal Credit Card and Credit Card itself are very cool means of making transactions online. It makes purchasing products and paying for services extremely easy ad convenient.
Take home: When choosing any of these mediums, it might also interest you to consider their interests and change per transaction you make. Choose the one which you are most convenient with its charge.
It is also your responsibility to protect your account by keeping your password safe, avoid making purchases from an unsecured website, saving your Credit card detail on an HTTP site, using public Wi-Fi, and taking to other preventive measures previously stated in the article.
Want other alternatives? You might consider going with Skrill, Payoneer, Stripe, Google Pay. These are very secured alternatives to PayPal.
