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Should I use my credit card on the Internet?
What the Experts Say
Michael Busch, a writer for AVWeb, spent 3 years consulting for VISA
International, and he says using your credit card on the Internet
is safe.
But perhaps New York Times journalist Peter H. Lewis put it best:
"Sending a credit card number to an electronic merchant over the Internet
is probably the safest way to make such a transaction. In the last
week, for example, I handed my credit card to a waiter who disappeared
with it for five minutes. I faxed my credit card information to a
business in New Jersey, and the fax probably lay exposed to everyone
in that office for hours and perhaps to the cleaning crew that night.
I called a hotel and gave my card data to a reservation clerk and
continued my recklessness by ordering some merchandise from a clothing
catalogue, again by reading my credit card information to some unseen
operator.
"Compared with the risk of handing my credit card to a stranger, which
I do nearly every day, sending it over the Internet is pretty secure.
(The New York Times, Nov. 13, 1995 C3)
Hackers are too smart to bother
Note that hackers who are smart enough to hack a credit card number
from the net are also TOO SMART to try credit card fraud -- they know
it's too easy to get caught. Criminals who know how to get away with
some limited forms of credit card fraud are much more likely to bribe
a waiter in a restaurant or do a dumpster dive behind a gas station.
Learning to hack the net is time consuming. Ask yourself: If I wanted
to steal money fast, which would give me a better payday TODAY --
hacking the net, or walking down to the local gas station? Now you
know why credit card fraud on the net is so rare.
Reporters aren't Internet experts
We feel that mainstream press reports claiming that "using your credit
card on the Internet is dangerous" are simply wrong. Remember that
mainstream journalists are not internet experts, and they are not
retail merchants. They are in the business of writing news stories
that will get your attention.
Even Dan Akst, the cyber-writer for the LA Times, has acknowleged
that credit card purchases over the Internet are safer than buying
flowers over the phone from the office.
Credit card fraud down
MasterCard recently reported numbers showing that their volume of
credit card transactions was up by 26%, but fraud was down by 11.4%
-- you can conclude that fraud is being combated successfully.
About the article
Source: Unknown |
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