MyChargeBack Says Fraudsters Are Moving To Bitcoin From Credit Cards

Micheal Cohen stands as the Vice President of Global Operations at MyChargeBack, a consumer protection company. Cohen had given comment in regard to how fraudsters are taking advantage of crypto transactions, particularly their irreversible nature.

At its first envisioning, one of the key selling points of Bitcoin was how it would protect retailers even more than credit cards could. Satoshi Nakamoto, the enigmatic founder of Bitcoin, gave a comeback to an early adopter’s complaint on an email on the 10th of October, 2008. The adopter, James A. Donald, complained that Bitcoin transactions weren’t instantaneously final.

Its Greatest Strength Being Turned To Weakness

In response, Satoshi highlighted the fact that paper checks can bounce following one or two weeks, with credit card transactions being capable of being contested for up to 60 to even 180 days after the fact. Bitcoin, Satoshi points out, is irreversible enough only after a few hours.

Cohen highlighted that, in some cases, a chargeback for credit cards are possible a full 18 months after the transaction was made. He further highlighted the two types of classification of credit card chargebacks: Unauthorized Use, and Authorized Use. Unauthorized, for example, is when a criminal illegally gains access to one’s credit card. Authorized, in turn, means when the cardholder themselves authorized the transaction, but they’re not satisfied with the outcome.

Cohen highlighted how, when it comes to crypto, consumers are only capable of recovering funds, should it be an unauthorized transaction. This is due to how credit companies, such as Visa or MasterCard, explicitly exclude certain industries from the authorized use category, such as gambling or crypto.

Crypto Scammers Are Like Grass In A Field

Much to Cohen’s dismay, he highlighted how crypto serves as such a convenient tool for scammers to collect funds, which are subsequently harming the mass adoption of cryptocurrencies. Cohen put it simply, highlighting that these people that got scammed through the use of crypto fraudsters, won’t be the ones that will promote the usage of cryptocurrency to others.

One of the most used tactics for these fraudsters, according to Cohen, is the offering of various services and products, typically related to forex trading. This is generally offered to an unsuspecting customer. At the last moment, the scammer eventually convinces the unsuspecting victim to pay for the service, or otherwise fund their new account by way of crypto.

Some Sliver Of Hope

Luckily for these victims, Cohen highlighted how not all hope should be lost. His company helps victims by identifying scammers, doing so by way of tracking the money movement in the blockchain. Typically, criminals opt to move to an exchange to cash out their crypto, and Cohen highlighted that many exchanges are quite eager to stamp these criminals out.