[QUOTE]Originally posted by s2000raj
You wanna hear something really funny, but sad.

 

She believed me :whew/ wipes sweat off of forehead:

It was some 'escort service'. I tried to call them to see if they could identify the perpetrator, but as you can guess they weren't very friendly.

 

The biggest risk when using credit cards is in the real world. Restaurants, card skimming, theft etc etc. Only in the online world are you afforded the luxury and security of encryption. It just so happens that crooks who obtain cards buy stuff online because of the anonymity they are afforded. They could just as easily do the same thing with mail order or any method of buying where their signature is not required.

However, when it comes to online shopping, no site (and I mean NO site) should store your credit card details online.

Even the most commonly used 'canned software' packages have the ability to split and encrypt card details so that the vendor has to match them together to get complete payment details. This means that card details should never be stored in their entirety either online or offline.

Complacency/ignorance/incompetence by IT people is the biggest security problem online.

BTW, at least 30% of cards issued by US banks have, by default, a block on OS internet transactions on the card which means the customer has to contact the bank to authorise removal of the block. So the card companies in most cases are doing their bit also.

Maybe consider forgetting the high limit Gold/Platinum AMEX cards etc and opting for a card with a sensible couple of thousand limit to be used for online shopping, eating out etc. I guess you have to evaluate whether you really need a $10,000 or $20,000 limit on a card used for small infrequent purchases such as these.

 

Now I know what to say when those pesky *escort service* charges pi$$ off my wife.

Thanks for the advice, y'all.

 

My site has nine levels of security with encryption. A separate server that trasfers encypted card information to the processor. We do address verification, so without the proper billing address the card gets declined automatically. It's not fool-proof, but it helps. As the vendor, I don't even see the credit card number. All I see are approved transactions and the last four digits.

 

You can only do so much to protect yourselves. You also need to be weary of the unscrupulous cashiers. Must sister did not get her Macy's card back and didnt realize it until she got home. That night someone charge $500 for a Gucci watch. Macy's tried to say it was her but the signatures did not even match.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Nin009
My site has nine levels of security with encryption.

 

You sure Ms. Lig wasn't out on a shopping spree or something?! Glad there weren't Miata parts on that shopping list or I bet you or the Mrs. woulda shown up on my doorstep ventilating me through my OWN door!!

Seriously, that bites. My dad had his identity stolen several years ago and the thiefs ran up some crazy charges. Ever since then the credit card company has been so spastic about letting charges go through that if my mom and dad separately use their joint credit card in widely different geographic locations that one of them gets denied. My dad travels a LOT, so this is not an infrequent occurrance.

While I understand the security aspect, it's a heck of a hassle. At the end of the day you have to choose whether you prefer the disease or the medicine, I guess...

 

hehe...

She's dangerous!

Luckily the charge was so outrageous that it wasn't authorized.

I share that frustration with your dad. I'm glad the banks are cautious - but it can be a nuisance as well.

On our last trip to Ixtapa/Ziuahataneo we had our cards cut off because they banks suspected that the charges were bogus. I was out of cash and had to pay some kind of fee to leave the country. Had to make a bunch of phone calls to get the ATM and Visa cards opened up again...

 

Dangerously cute!

Pay a fee to leave the country, huh? Did you get tossed in jail again, liggy?!