Fraud is a massive problem in the existing payment system only because the architecture is horribly broken. The trust model is completely wrong. Nobody would design this system; we tolerate it only because of inertia, and because merchants are contractually required to hide these fees from customers. There's also an enormous regulatory burden to overcome. I'm not saying there still isn't a fraud issue, but it could be cut to a tenth just by changing the trust model.
My point is that Facebook is in a position to try building a new system, and the payoff is potentially enormous. Having a definition of identity that extends beyond a name and a cc# goes a long ways towards limiting fraud.
However, I tend to agree with you as far as Facebook's technical competence. This doesn't mean they shouldn't try.
As far as the chicken-and-egg problem goes, FB might do well to bootstrap a payments system in lesser-developed nations where Visa & Mastercard don't have such a lock on the market. A truly global payments system stands a good chance of eventually winning.
My point is that Facebook is in a position to try building a new system, and the payoff is potentially enormous. Having a definition of identity that extends beyond a name and a cc# goes a long ways towards limiting fraud.
However, I tend to agree with you as far as Facebook's technical competence. This doesn't mean they shouldn't try.
As far as the chicken-and-egg problem goes, FB might do well to bootstrap a payments system in lesser-developed nations where Visa & Mastercard don't have such a lock on the market. A truly global payments system stands a good chance of eventually winning.