Mobile money is used to transfer funds in local currency between two users with just the phone numbers.
There are 2 ways to transfer money:
Direct transfer from user to user
Merchant withdrawal- after the user authorizes cashout
So apart from a user transfer another way to transfer uses this merchant cashout. This allows a user to authorize an agent to take money from his account, usually used for deposits or transactions with a mobile money agent.
The difference between the 2 methods
The difference between the method 1 and 2 is that:
for method 1 the sending P2P user enters the specific amount to send but for 2 the receiving user(the P2P merchant) is the one who enters a requested amount for the user to approve. Note this difference.
How P2P merchants are abusing this:
Previously the first method was the default when sending.
* I send to a given number
* They confirm the amount
* They release the money on Binance
Network charges for sending are paid for by the sender
Now most of the merchants have switched to the second method.
When doing a P2P transaction for 100 USDT for instance let's say it's ¢1000 cedis. Now the merchant can input ¢1050 cedis about $5 more assuming the user won't mind. Instead of the requested ¢1000.
If a user accepts this request for ¢1050, instead of the agreed amount of ¢1000 merchant make an extra ¢50 ($5). The sending user also pays for the network charges for sending which is usually higher with this cashout method.
Of course some users refuse (see screenshot) and the P2P transaction is not accepted. Especially of the funds in the account are not enough. Then they can go to the merchant who uses the first method.
Most P2P users have adopted cashout method
The problem is that now a lot of P2P merchants are switching to the second method because of the extra money they makeso it's difficult to find a merchant who does the first method of direct transfer.
The end result
1. Users pay higher fees than the regular direct transfer
2. Users pay more per withdrawal/deposit than therate agreed by on Binance
3. Merchants profit twice; from their rates advertised on binance and the difference they steal from p2P users
Now many users are discouraged because most of the merchants are using this method and prefer not to use P2P on Binance. If binance doesn't do something about this, many users will keep getting their money stolen and the wise ones will stop using P2P for depositsand withdrawal on Binance.
Please help stop this theft.
#MobilePayments #P2PScam #P2P
2nd time posting this