Is Alipay safe and secure? How Alipay protects personal data?

Alipay is known throughout China as one of the safest ways to make mobile payments and online financial transactions. Millions of Chinese people rely on Alipay as an easy and quick way for online shopping, daily transfers, and mobile phone top-ups.

If you’re an expat using Alipay to help manage part of your money or even run a business in China, though, you might still wonder how safe Alipay is and how it keeps your account and data safe from hackers or fraudsters. Read on to learn about Alipay’s privacy policies and transaction protections. We also compare Alipay vs WeChat Pay in terms of security.

If you’re looking for a safe and reliable cross-border payment solution, simply open an account with Wise. A Wise multi-currency account can help you send money out of China cheaply and hold 40+ different currencies. Wish to spend like a local in China? You just need a Wise debit card that automatically converts other currencies to Chinese Yuan at the mid-market exchange rate.

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Table of contents
What is Alipay? How does Alipay work? Is Alipay safe? Is Alipay safe for foreigners: using passport and driver’s license to register? Is Alipay safer than WeChat Pay? Do you know Wise can help expat in China to send money out of China now? Wise: an international money transfer app to send money to over 160 countries including China!

What is Alipay?

Alipay (China) Network Technology Co., Ltd. has been committed to the construction and development of an open platform for digital payments since its inception in 2004. In May 2011, Alipay was awarded the first batch of Payment Business Licenses by the People's Bank of China¹.

Alipay has developed innovative payment technologies such as Barcode payment, Facial Recognition Payment, QR Code Payment, etc. to meet digital payment needs in different scenarios.

Alipay is widely used by both individuals and merchant users in China and around the world, and now provides payment service protection for more than 1 billion users and 80 million merchants, while helping the real economy to flourish.

How does Alipay work?

Generally, Alipay consists of three main areas: commercial payments, convenient everyday payments and transport payments¹.

First of all, Alipay provides different payment solutions for merchants in different industries such as catering, and retail. Secondly, PayPal opens up convenient solutions based on mobile phone payment, and credit payment, for government affairs, medical and healthcare, local daily life, education, etc. In addition, the Alipay payment solution is available for transportation such as taxis, parking, share bikes, buses, metro, online car rental, and high-speed trains.

Is Alipay safe?

Yes it is.

Alipay is developed and operated by Ant Group, which is a financial technology company owned by Alibaba. Alipay has implemented multiple security measures to protect users' funds and private data. Besides this, Alipay has partnered with financial institutions to implement a stringent fund supervision system. Moreover, Alipay also offers safety and security services, such as risk monitoring and transaction insurance.

Let's look at some of Alipay’s protection measures²:

• Security control: To prevent account passwords from being stolen by Trojans or viruses
• Digital certificate: Strengthen the protection and enhance the security of your Alipay account.
• Paying shield: It saves the digital certificate provided by the electronic authentication service organization for the customer in the USB key. Payment Shield is a tool with electronic signature and digital authentication, which ensures the confidentiality, uniqueness, authenticity and integrity of the user's online information transfer.
• **Green Umbrella APP **(available on Mobile phone): It generates a 6-digit dynamic passphrase every 30 seconds, which expires after it has been used.
• Electronic signboard: It is a small assistant of Green Umbrella APP, and is responsible for building a set of end-to-end security for Alipay enterprise users to safeguard their enterprise accounts.

Is Alipay safe for foreigners: using passport and driver’s license to register?

Whether you register an official Alipay account or Alipay’s 90-day “tour pass” mini program³, you are requested to provide your ID details and contact information. A passport or a driver’s license is usually a necessary document used for Alipay sign-up. So it's important to know how Alipay stores these documents and user information in order to ensure security.

How does Alipay store and protect personal information⁴?

1. Personal information collected by Alipay within China will be stored in China. In case of any cross-border businesses, any overseas institutions require relevant personal information, relevant service providers will transmit the information and must follow the provisions of applicable laws and regulations and regulatory requirements. Additionally, the overseas institutions must keep confidential your personal information by executing effective measures.
2. Alipay will only keep your personal data for as long as is required to fulfill your request for services and as long as is stipulated by laws, regulations and supervision. Following its expiration, Alipay will comply with legal requirements by erasing or anonymizing your personal information.
3. Alipay uses a variety of security technologies along with a management system to protect user data and reduce the possibility of your information being revealed, corrupted or lost, misused, altered, accessed or disclosed without authorization.
4. Alipay has a department in charge of personal information security.
5. Alipay has created emergency plans for incidents involving the security of personal information.

Is Alipay safer than WeChat Pay?

Similar to Alipay, WeChat Pay stores users’ personal information for the period of time specified by law, regulation or supervision. WeChat Pay has also taken a number of measures to ensure the security of users' funds and information. Physical protection, security technology, management system and other measures are taken to reduce the risk of loss, misuse, unauthorized access, disclosure and alteration of personal information⁵.

Which payment gateway is safer, Alipay or WeChat? Actually, both Alipay and WeChat payments are very secure. Whether it is Alipay or WeChat Pay, as long as you protect your account information and password correctly and do not disclose your password and identity information to others, your money and personal information are protected.

Do you know Wise can help expat in China to send money out of China now?

Alipay is a great way to send and receive money within China. Nevertheless, Wise's service is very useful if you wish to transfer money outside of China -- as Alipay does not allow use for this purpose.

You don’t need to go to a physical bank to send money overseas anymore. Foreigners working in China can now transfer their legitimate CNY earnings to their overseas bank account thanks to Wise! You are able to transfer as much as 100,000 CNY per transaction. But overall, the transfer limit you can send out of China is determined by your yearly income in China as well as the amount of income tax you’ve paid there.

Other than transferring money abroad, uses can benefit from having a Wise account:

• Have account details like USD/EURO/POUNDS, to receive those local currencies, and you can save money conversion fees.
• Hold 40+ currencies in your Wise multi-currency account, and have cashback on your account balance based on where you live.
• Top up Alipay, WeChat Pay or Unionpay bank cards with Chinese CNY money.
• Spend like a local in 150+ countries and regions in the world using Wise debit card -- no annual management fee.

Please see Terms of Use for your region or visit Wise Fees & Pricing for the most up to date pricing and fee information.

Wise: an international money transfer app to send money to over 160 countries including China!

One of the world's largest and most reliable international transfer tools is ready for you. Since it was founded in 2011, Wise has been offering a quick, safe and low-cost cross-border solution for more than 16 million people worldwide.

Expats in China can use Wise to send money home, be it USA, UK, the Philippines or Japan. When it comes to sending money out of China, Wise stands out for using the mid-market rate, instead of increasing exchange rates to boost revenue. That is, the more you make international transfers, the more you save!

You'll also have access to Wise’s currency converting tool that makes it easier and cheaper convert currencies. Download Wise App in English and sign up today. Wise is going to make your life in China as easy and convenient as possible.

*This service is provided in partnership with a licensed third party payment provider in China.

Send money home using Wise

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Source：

1. Ant Group: Digital payment
2. Alipay Help Center: Safety center
3. Render Alipay: “Tour Pass” technology service agreement
4. Render Alipay: Ant Group privacy policy
5. Tenpay: Privacy Policy