Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Banks Offer Virtual Credit Cards for Online Shopping - Statistical Data Included
SOME $36 billion is likely to be spent at Web "e-tail" stores this year, up 145 percent from 1998. That estimate comes from shop.org, a trade association for online retailers.
Stressed-out workers are learning the value of e-shopping during their lunch breaks, or at midnight from their computer at home. And for the first time, you're seeing an explosion of Internet credit cards.
"Some of the very best and very worst cards are now offered on the Web," says Robert McKinley, president of CardWeb,
With a Web card, you apply online, get statements electronically or by mail, monitor your account online and pay by computer, too. Old-fashioned folk can still opt to pay by check.
For people seeking more credit this Christmas, the special appeal of Web cards is their speed. You give the same information you would in a mailed application. Approval (assuming you qualify) might come in just half a minute. From that moment, you can make purchases online.
Most issuers mail you a plastic card, usually a MasterCard or Visa, which you can also use in stores.
Wrong Number - orders received through stolen credit cards
Don't let fraudulent credit card orders knock you out.
You thought a hearty "Congratulations!" would be in order. Your online business was still-in its first week and had already received a whopping $5,000 order. There was just one catch--it had been placed with a stolen credit card number.
The tip-off came when you saw that the order, ostensibly placed by a credit card holder with a U.S. billing address, was to be shipped to faraway Indonesia. A quick phone call to the real card holder, who told you she didn't have the foggiest idea about the order, confirmed your suspicion.
Sometimes, sniffing out fraudulent transactions can be a matter of common sense. While online fraud tactics are becoming increasingly sophisticated, preventing credit card fraud doesn't have to require expensive monitoring tools. Much of fraud prevention lies in knowing how fraud works.
Take, for example, this loophole in shipping companies' customer service policies: Any allegedly legitimate buyer can ask his merchant for the tracking number of his shipped order; the customer can then call the shipping company with the number and change the shipping address. This allows a person with a fraudulent credit card to clear a merchant's antifraud Address Verification System (AVS), which ensures that the customer's credit card billing and shipping information match bank records and each other. After having his or her order approved, any poseur can obtain his or her package's tracking number and change the original delivery address to his or her own.
Developing a policy of withholding the tracking numbers of overnight packages until delivery time has passed can serve as a simple but effective part of your strategy against electronic credit card fraud.
RISKY BUSINESS
Online merchants take on much higher risk than their brick-and-mortar counterparts: Nearly 10 percent of all Internet transactions are fraudulent, compared to less than 1 percent of credit card transactions in the physical world, according to a 1999 report by Meridien Research. (The company does, however, expect Internet fraud to drop to below 5 percent in its 2000 report.)
Internet merchants also assume higher penalties for credit card purchases than do physical stores, paying as much as 2.69 percent and 30 cents (compared to 1.5 percent and 20 cents) on every Net-based transaction.
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