Paying With A Smartphone Can Be Safer Than Using A Credit Card
BOSTON (CBS) - When it comes to buying your coffee, gas, or groceries, the future is now. There have never been more options to pay with a smartphone.
Despite the convenience, there are many consumers who still worry about the safety of these transactions.
Cumberland Farms launched "Smart Pay" earlier his year. This program allows consumers to download an app and pay for their gasoline ahead of time at their Massachusetts stores.
"We found that customers who use it, once they are comfortable with it, and they are comfortable with the security and everything, they keep coming back and they like the convenience," explained Dave Banks.
Roel Schouwenberg , a computer analyst at Kaspersky Lab in Woburn, said paying with a legitimate app can be safer than using a credit card.
"There are big issues with cloning of credits cards," said Schouwenberg. "But if you are using your smartphone, that problem basically goes away; it's going to be harder for somebody to very easily clone that device."
Smartphones can provide an extra level of security because they are password protected.
There is some concern, however, that criminals will focus more attention on mobile payment plans as they continue to grow.
So far, that's not happening yet. Earlier this year the security firm McAfee tracked just 7,000 malware threats against Android phones. That compares to 83 million focused on PC's.
