Online Credit Card Security

Credit Card Security

When entering the debate on credit card security the first question that must be answered is: “Who controls your credit card?”

Most readers will believe that they have control of the card because it has their name printed on it and they pay the bills. Although this argument has some validity it certainly does not have total validity. The question that needs to be asked before you claim total control is: “Can I stop a payment made with my credit card?” The answer is an emphatic “NO” – you cannot stop a current or future payment. Therefore you do not have total control of your credit card.

Having made this point it is also worthy to make the point about using your credit card online when you do not know who you are dealing with and how ethical these people are. It raises the point that because you do not have total control over your card there are many people that are happy to use this credit card security flaw to their own benefit and your loss.

Below is listed a recent transaction that I consider close to credit card fraud yet I am unable to do anything about it:

1. In January 2008 I received a link to the sales page of one of the top internet, so-called, gurus. As usual it was a very long sales letter, the type they know that nobody will read in full, offering a one-month trial of a membership website for just $2.

2. Because I didn’t read the sales page in full I didn’t notice that it was my responsibility to cancel the trial before it ran out or pay over $120 per month for membership. Naturally the two dollar trial was in bold print and the ongoing subscription was buried in small print.

3. The offer never gave me the opportunity to pay by a third party such as PayPal, they offered it only by credit card and $2 didn’t appear too much to pay.

4. When I received an American Express statement late in March it showed two payments that I didn’t recognize: The first for $99 then second for about $25 both payments made in February.

5. I phoned Amex security and was told, very politely, that there is nothing I, or they, can do to stop these payments because I appear to have entered a contract. Also that the same payments had already been made for March and would show on my next statement. So now my $2 venture had cost me $250 and I hadn’t even logged into the subscription site once.

6. After this I logged into the site to discover how to end this unwanted transaction and when I read their FAQ’s it became obvious that many people had been trapped in the same situation as I. (You can tell this by the questions they publish.)

7. Finding a method to cancel my subscription I made the request exactly as they demanded. – By contacting them through the “contact us” facility on the website. Then I considered this bad experience was over. - Far from it!

8. About ten days later, one day after the April payment was due, I received an email from this site asking if I truly wished to cancel the subscription.

You guessed it; they had sat on my request to cancel the subscription until they milked my credit card for one more payment. This to me amounts to credit card fraud and raises the issue of online credit card security that so many people have mentioned over the years.

The internet today is ungoverned, it is a little like the American Wild West in the nineteenth century when the only law was survival of the fittest. Because of the international nature of the World Wide Web there is no single set of laws that cover its use. There is an FBI internet fraud division but they are only interested in the USA and the people I was dealing with are located in Canada – out of the FBI jurisdiction.

The best way to recognize a company that is likely to put you in this situation is their demand that you can only pay by credit card. If, for instance, they allowed payment by a third party source such as PayPal then you always have the ability to stop any subscription at the click of a button. So beware the trader that wants to access your credit card details – although its fine to use your card when dealing with a reputable company that is an icon of offline trading – How well do you know somebody that only operates online? Truly you only know what they tell you in their sales letter and as the case detailed in this article indicates, you cannot trust one of the most well known internet entrepreneurs and that is a slur on online trading that makes credit card security the most important factor when deciding whether to buy online.


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