Protect your online purchase
When I began researching on how the industry and consumers were looking into online fraud and identity theft, I came across the multiple methods that credit card companies use (Verified by Visa, MasterCard SecureCode®) and how consumer groups provide guidelines for consumer protection.
Industry guidelines expect consumers to shop online with specific online merchants whom have signed to the credit cards companies’ security programs, and who follow specific audit and data protection guidelines. However, millions of credit cards are stolen every year from these merchants ( see 4.2 million credit and debit cards stolen ), and complaints of fraud amounted to $240M in 2007, $41M higher than in 2006 ( see complaints of fraud ).
For consumer protection, the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC - www.idtheftcenter.org ) provides compelling guidelines in the use of credit cards online. Similarly, Consumers Union (www.consumersunion.org) just published tips for paying online as the shopping season approaches. These are great articles and well intentioned, but it seems to me that the onus is in the consumer to do the research on the merchant, ensure that the consumer has installed a personal firewall, and if anything happens, call my bank and report the incident possibly to the authorities.
Tags: consumers union, credit card, identity theft, itrc, online fraud, Online payments