Snapchat , the popular messaging app, has just launched Snapcash, a way to send money to friends. But with the problems Snapchat has had in the past, how secure is Snapcash?
Back in January, Brian Fung of the Washington Post reported that there had been a gap in the service’s security which lead to “the phone numbers and usernames for as many as 4.6 million accounts … [being] downloaded by a website calling itself SnapchatDB.info.” And then just a month ago, on October 14, Reuters reported another breach — but this time by “rogue third-party apps” that were “ storing its users’ pictures .” Hackers claimed that they had at least 100,000 stolen photos from Snapchat including many of minors, the app’s main user group. That being said, it could lead people to question the security of Snapcash such as entrepreneur David Lorr and creator of Wordstigram, Zach Williamson.
Chances of me linking my debit card to use SnapCash? Zero.
— David (@davidlorr) November 18, 2014
Snapcash sounds like a great way to get my bank account info stolen — Zach Williamson (@Zilliamson) November 18, 2014
Snapcash, as you can see from the video below, is meant to be an easy to use way to send money to friends, similar to services like PayPal. Once you log onto Snapchat’s website, though, you get a little more detail. Firstly, although the advertisement shows what appears to be two teens, if you are under the age of 18 you are not permitted to use Snapcash. The way that parents can make sure children adhere to this is because Snapcash can only be linked to debit card. It cannot be linked to any credit cards, ATM accounts, PayPal accounts, or any prepaid bank cards.
Also, you can only use Snapcash to send payments to people in your contact list who are eligible to receive payments. At this point in the directions on their website, Snapchat links you over to their partner, Square, who processes payments and deals with security issues. Once you have sent a payment to an eligible recipient, meaning they also have to have a debit card linked up to their Snapchat account, the recipient has 24 hours to confirm the payment. If it is not confirmed, then Square will cancel the funds and return them to the sender’s bank account within one to two days.
While Snapchat has had security issues in the past, Square has a better track record. Square is the creator of Square Cash using the Cash app. It works along the same premise of sending money to approved recipients. The company has gotten great reviews from such people as Joshua Steimie, contributor to Forbes, who said after using the service, “the credit card industry as we know it is dead.”
In regards to Snapcash specifically, Square explained that “all payment is passed through Square, encrypted and submitted to our servers securely , regardless of whether you’re using a public or private WiFi connection or data service on your phone.”
All that being said, while some may not trust Snapchat, with the help of Square, Snapcash could be a great and secure way to send money to those you love.
[Photo Courtesy of Wikipedia ]
