Philippines’ Maya warns of losses from fake mobile app

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Fintech firm Maya has issued a public advisory to its users over an application masquerading as an affiliate of the platform on the Google Play Store. The notice warns users that it has no relationship with the “Maya Trade” app and took to social media to tell customers to keep their guard.

“Heads up, Team Maya! There is an app called Maya Trade that is NOT part of the official Maya brand. For your safety, take EXTRA CAUTION in using the app or clicking any of its ads,” read the advisory.

“We strongly advise the public to take extra caution in downloading, registering, transacting, and dealing with Maya Trade,” said Maya.

Advisory: the "Maya Trade" app on the Google Play Store is NOT the same as “Maya,” the official app and brand of Maya Philippines, Inc. (formerly PayMaya Philippines) and Maya Bank, Inc. pic.twitter.com/hYI5l7yJMv

— Maya (@mayaofficialph) October 14, 2022

The firm added that Maya did not authorize the use of marketing materials, social media sites, and logos as it shared a link leading to the official Maya mobile application.

Passing off an application as an affiliate of a well-known brand is often used by scammers to swindle users of their hard-earned funds.

Maya was formerly known as Paymaya, but an encompassing rebrand saw it transform into its present iteration. The transformation included the addition of online banking and digital asset services to clients with the addition of micro-investments.

The company’s digital banking arm received an operating license in September 2021, and within five months, it had garnered an impressive one million customers. Maya’s rapid growth has been attributed to a seamless operation and the use of ingenious marketing strategies like the “Maya Free Bitcoin” that randomly airdrops bitcoins to the platform’s users.

Maya’s faith in virtual currencies

In September, Maya’s Chief Marketing Officer Pepe Torres urged Filipino residents to consider the option of virtual currencies in settling transactions while noting that the data looks positive for the nation.

Torres cited the Visa Consumer Payment Attitudes Survey that predicted that 72% of residents are open to considering digital currencies to settle transactions. He added that the myriad benefits of relying on the asset class include financial inclusion and speedy settlement times.

“So there are a lot of promises around the core technology behind cryptocurrency, which is blockchain, as it has a lot of promises in terms of international remittances, making it easier to buy goods and services around the world and also in terms of developing more secure and smart contracts,” said Torres.

Watch: The BSV Global Blockchain Convention presentation, LiteClient: Scaling Blockchain with Simplified Payment Verification