Do you trust your VISA to the net?

Hi guys

I am surfing the net quite a few years. I've seen a lot of products (not only music) that i wanted to buy, but i have never done so.

Giving my VISA Number Account on the net?....Sorry i'll pass !!!

I've heard, i've seen and i've been told different kind of stories, and no one will convince me that my VISA will be safely charged.

So, i look at the sites that some of you propose for buying mp3 on the net, but i prefer much better, the oldfashioned way. I share the expenses with three more mates, we copy the CDs, and that's it.

Of course i would like to leggaly download mp3 paying somehow, but not with Credit Card. I don't trust them. And i don't mean the company site, i mean some "bad" guys, you know who.

Anyway, i visit some of those sites, just to check new releases, hear some songs out, and generally learn some things.

I hope that having a VISA will be illegal someday !!!

Thanks for the posts

 

It would seem that you miind is already made up on this and there is little we can / could do to change it , so I'm not sure what your point is???

I have not had a problem with identify theft or false / erroneous charges but I do take care to where I shop. I would not describe myself as a prolific online buyer but I've gotta say I could not DJ without a credit card due to the fact that 95% + of my music purchases are online. I will never buy except by secure sites and I only buy with a credit card not a debit card and closely track my purchases and statements.

Phil

 

Do you have a Visa (or Mastercard) DEBIT card in Greece?

This is a card which will only authorise transactions up to the amount of money in the account. You have to put money in first, rather than paying it back after the transaction.

To the merchant, it is just another card. They don't know that it is a debit card.

It is a little more awkward in that to be safe you have to:

1. Decide what you want to buy, and the total cost involved.
2. Convert that cost from transaction currency to local currency (allowing for conversion margins)
3. Transfer that money from your bank account / cash into the debit card account.
4. Make the transaction.

But your total exposure to fraud is then the amount in the card account.

 

So far I've done a fair share of purchases, but I always want to have the SSL icon on when I do so. I used to be a compsci student and one of our professors once showed us what you can pick up in unguarded packets over the local network... Hell, that almost made me so paranoid I'd wish I could use secure connections for everything now.

 

I do a fair share of internet purchasing with a CC and debit card.

I don't feel that I'm anymore or less safe than ever with a CC. The fashionable crime right now is ID Theft, but people have been ripping off CC's for years: Going through your trash and getting old statements, going through the trash at the store and getting carbons...

In fact there is a ATM scandal going on right now. The perps put a reader over the the ATM card slot. It reads the info off of the mag strip and it has a camera to see the PIN you type. Then from there. your account is 'open for business'

So with every scam out there, I'm not going to be chicken little. But I will as aware as I can be. I keep track of purchases, I don't use dodgy sites, Always use SSL, and when I use a debit card, I already know the starting balance - which I keep low just for these purposes.

 

I never use my debit card anymore to make purchases, now I do it with my CITI credit card. Infact, these guys are so good, they've twice frozen my card because of suspicious spending (once because the number was stolen, and once cause they thought my apple store purchase was weird).

But with a checkcard/debit card, once that money's gone from your checking account...there's nothing you can do about it. Fortunately credit cards give you an extra buffer and litigation incase soemthing like that is done.

 

dont worry just give me your visa number you can trust me (lol)

JUST KIDDING



you can trust NI's site

 

kaaos, that advice is 100% wrong.

The "asp" extension simply means that the page was (probably) generated by Microsoft's Active Server Pages technology.

It has nothing to do with banking, or security, in any way.

 

In fact, coming from a university that advocates distrust in MS products from freshman year, you probably don't want to trust anything that ends in .asp....



Realistically, think about the company you're trusting your credit card info to. You trusted it to the waiter at that restaurant last time, but would you trust it to a completely unknown company on the 'net? Or would you rather check it out first and see what other people think about it?

 

I do tons of purchasing with my visa card online. I love it and your luddite's stance on the issue is silly dude. Here are some things to consider....


1. If you are using a actaul credit card as opposed to a check card... your total liability for purchases made on your card if it is stolen is $50. Everything over $50 is cut off from your account and written off by your visa issuing bank. If you have enough money to dj with, you have enough to cover the $50 maximum risk of a stolen card. There are box sets of discs I've bought this year for more than $50.

2. Since most on the interenet are tech savvy, you are less likely to be had online than in real life. There are several spotty mp3 stores on the interent that may steal your info, but there are millions of seemingly innocent resteraunts out there. When you give your card to your waitress and she wanders off in the dark, what's to keep her from swiping it into a card reader in her pocket? If you deal with major online retailers with good reputations you don't have to worry about this at all. You are insulated by the architecture of the system. The workers there dont' even get to see what method you paid with or interact with the financial end of the transactions at all. Its handled at a black box outside of their access and only the IT manager in charge of the database has access to the information. In many cases even the billing department doesn't have access to your information. They can only tell the system to refund your money or modify your order.

3. Even if your information is stolen, people can't open new accounts under your name without your full ineptitude and their total information awareness. They would have to obtain your social security number, provide a maiden name for your nana, your workplace, income, etc... and put all your details down on the application, then somehow steal your mail on the day that the card arrived. Otherwise, You have no liability to the card issuer. When you make a purchase with a visa, what of this information is given to the merchant? NONE. In addition, people would have to assume your identity completely to create a new account. Wouldn't you notice that your mail was missing after a few weeks?

4. You can just use an escrow service like www.paypal.com if you don't trust the merchant in most cases. If you use them, then the merchant only gets your shipping information and you can take your money back no problems if they try and shaft you in any way.

Your fears of purchasing with a visa are irrational at best. Its like the danger of flying on an airline, only when the failure rate of 0.03% kicks in you only lose $50 instead of your life. The world is becoming more reliant on technology everyday including the financial transaction market. Someday you will not only be restricted from paying your utility bills with cash.

 

No matter which service you choose, as DrBrooks says, make sure the URL starts with HTTPS:// and that you are currently at the website you should be at! If it starts with HTTP://, anyone listening in on your internet connection can see the data transmitted in plain text (as opposed to relatively indecipherable encryption)

Also, there is an unscrupulous practise known as "phishing" which means a website with a URL very similar to a legitimate one (for example, armazon.com or ituunes.com) and with a layout very closely resembling the proper side is recording your financial data. DOUBLE AND TRIPLE CHECK the URL before you click "submit"!!!!

 

ARRG! that is what i should of posted i knew that why in hte hell did i post ASP as secure:hammer:

httpS is for secure

 

*grin*

One of those dyslexic moments, huh?