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Comment by sunaookami | Hacker News Reader

Wero is not a PayPal alternative. It doesn't even have buyer's protection and every bank must manually implement it which immediately makes it a failure. Some banks also connect it to your phone number so you can't link Wero to two different bank accounts with the same number when you have 2 bank accounts. Very messy.

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> Some banks also connect it to your phone number

What do you mean "some banks"? I thought the whole value proposition of Wero was instant bank transfers with SEPA but using phone numbers?

...why would I give my phone number to random people to pay them? I'd rather use an email address or user name. And using phone numbers means making it easier for normal people which means uploading the whole address book to the bank... just no.

I'd rather give the bank account number to people that need to send money there. Why bother with email address?

With the number everyone can withdraw money (which is two clicks to cancel the transfer but still annoying).

Source needed. AFAIK that would mean faking a direct debit mandate which would be a criminal offense.

The person above you is right. I've never had it happen to anyone I know so the risk seems exceptionally low (also because of the undo option), but technically you can indeed just fill in any IBAN and get that person to pay for your product. Responding "but that's illegal!" is like wondering why we need police at all; nobody would violate the law right??

Wero is a payment provider technology, a money wallet, and a bank account integration technology under one single marketing name.

On the payment provider technology side, you're right, but the wallet feature uses phone numbers (and I think email addresses) so you can send each other money without sharing your IBAN (which is slightly longer and probably not in your contacts).

FYI this comment was dead, not flagged. I wonder if you're hellbanned or if it was a keyword trigger

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