KanataIT Blog

What about online banks and merchants partnering to offer a more secure and less expensive eCommerce experience? Most online banks offer savings accounts to both consumers and businesses with higher interest rates offered by typical commercial banks. Here is a great opportunity for these banks to extend debit and credit services to their customers to shop online.

Web Merchants need to pay interchange fees to credit card companies with a variety of dependencies on rates being charged per transaction. However, the outstanding issue of security still

This week I’d like to comment on how the industry recommends to consumers what to do when it comes to online shopping and to safely shop online.

In my blog I have argued that most of the burden is placed on the consumers to research the web sites they visit and where they are planning to buy an item. I have also mentioned that in the present environment, consumers must disclose personal information to online sites, including credit information.

Well, as you will see from this video from AARP, the American Association of Retired Persons, a Google engineer recommends and advises consumers to be aware of the dangers of shopping online, and although shopping online is a good experience, she goes on advising consumers to make sure they research the online merchant site, and

Now that we are gearing up for the end of year celebrations, I suspect millions of consumers will use their credit card or bank accounts to shop online and buy gifts for relatives and friends. This is the time of year as well when identity theft and fraud are at their peaks. Consumers open more accounts with online merchants, and they may also open accounts with PayPal, BillMeLater and so on.

In the process of doing so, consumers disclose private information to all these intermediaries, including credit card number, bank account number, date of birth, last 4 digits of Social Security Number, etc. We consumers hope that the systems where all this information is stored is secure and protected against malicious attacks, both internal or external.

Well, unfortunately that is not the case. In November 2007 more than 250,000 computers were compromised in the Los Angeles area ( see

Tags: consumers union, credit card, identity theft, itrc, online fraud, Online payments
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