Mobile money has a broad span, covering all sorts of banking and transactional services via a mobile device. Want to send money to a relative from another city? You can use your phone. Want to buy a cup of coffee, but you forgot your wallet at home? Now you can use your phone to pay for it. Want to check your bank account balance? Most banks have a special mobile app you can install and use it to do mobile banking.

Regardless of which mobile payment option you use, it’s important to take a few steps to improve the security of the app:

• Enable two-factor authentication: Two-factor authentication helps prevent someone from gaining unwanted access to your account by requiring two pieces of information to log in. Once you’ve enabled 2FA, after the app asks for your username or password it then asks you for a second factor, usually a code that’s sent to an app, as a text message, or in an email.
• Set up payment notifications: This way, if someone does get into your account and sends money, you’ll know immediately.
• Protect the app with a passcode, your face, or a fingerprint: Enable whatever secondary protections an app offers, whether that’s a PIN or a biometric lock (logging in with your face or fingerprint) to open the app or to send a payment.
• Enable automatic app updates: Mobile payment apps get updated with security enhancements and bug fixes. If you don’t already have automatic updates enabled, you should turn them on. On Android, open the Google Play Store app and tap the menu icon > Settings > Auto-update apps. On iPhone, open Settings > iTunes & App Store and enable App Updates.
• Confirm recipient details before sending money: If an app has a built-in account-sharing tool that works via a link or a QR code, use that instead of typing out a username. This approach eliminates the chance of making a typo and paying the wrong person. If that isn’t an option, verbally confirm the details with the recipient before tapping the send button.
• Treat mobile payments like cash: Scams are very common with payment apps, partially because it’s so difficult to get money back after you’ve sent it. Never pay strangers or send money online without confirming you’re sending it to the intended recipient.

Mobile payment apps are targets for scams partially because people don’t fully understand how they work. Once you have that knowledge, spotting fraud is much easier. And if your account has the security protections listed above, it’s less likely someone will ever break into your account.