The safest ways to shop and pay online
More than 41 million French consumers shop online, which works out to 8 out of every 10 internet users. Like in most countries, the pandemic only accelerated the online shopping trend.
While online transactions are in general very safe, the sheer increase in volume means hackers, scammers, and identity thieves have more chances than ever to steal data.
A 2019 Merchants Risk Council report on online fraud found that 1.9% of revenue in Europe was lost to fraud, nearly 25% more than 1.5% in America and Asia. Research and Markets found that 85% of Swiss ecommerce companies had been victims of payment fraud. More than 60% of German ecommerce companies reported a distinct rise in fraudulent transactions.
When it comes to the best online payment security, here are the most secure online payment methods to shop and pay online.
What are the two main types of payment fraud?
Card present: When someone steals a consumer’s physical card and uses it to buy something in a shop or online, or does something like putting a false front on an ATM or a POS machine in a shop.
Card not present (CNP): When someone steals the consumer’s debit or credit card information, either by copying or photographing the card or skimming a page online where the payment information is stored.
Around 75% of all card fraud was ‘card not present’, a figure that will most certainly increase as online payments become more common.
What is the safest way to pay online?
Direct debits or bank transfers are the safest way to pay online. Fraudsters concentrate mostly on credit cards because there are fewer local regulations as compared to bank cards or bank accounts. Also, the actual debiting of the customer’s account does not happen instantly, which gives thieves a head start. According to the European Central Bank (ECB), credit card and delayed debit transactions were more affected by fraud than debit card transactions.
The same ECB report found that, although cross-border transactions within SEPA accounted for 9% of all card payment transactions, they accounted for more than 50% of all fraudulent transactions in 2019.
Running a close second for the safest form of payment is digital wallets like PayPal or Apple Pay. Compared to paying online with a credit or debit card, a digital wallet’s entire transaction is tokenised. Tokenisation safeguards against data breaches because it allows a person to make an online purchase without ever having to provide the seller with sensitive financial data, like the card number or the CVV number. As an added level of security, digital wallets also typically require biometric authentication, such as facial identification, fingerprint match, or voice match.
Digital wallets are either tied to the consumer’s country of residence (for example, iDEAL, PostePay, and Paylib) or are mobile device-based (Apple Pay or Samsung Pay).
How can businesses increase payment security for themselves and their customers?
Choosing a payment service provider (PSP) that is compliant with the most up-to-date security measures (PSD2) and is PCI-DSS certified is vital to ensure that chargebacks don’t become a big drain on your profit margins. PSPs like Mollie offer rigorous data protection and compliance with all available security regulations to ensure safe and secure payment processing for retailers.
Under PSD2, PSPs must secure transactions with two-factor authentication using a combination of knowledge (password or PIN), possession (a smartphone to receive a transaction authentication number), and inherence (biometrics like a fingerprint scan or facial recognition). Two-factor authentication increases payment security for both consumers and businesses.
Secure payment options for your customers
When ecommerce businesses accept the most secure payment options, they ensure a smooth checkout process for their customers. With Mollie, your customers can shop confidently with their preferred payment solution – without worrying about identity theft or financial scams.
Learn more about how Mollie helps ecommerce sites accept the most used ecommerce payment methods quickly, easily, and securely.