Online security? (Fraud)
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Discussion

ApexClipper

Original Poster:

27,746 posts

273 months

Sunday 27th November 2005
quotequote all
Guys

We had scare a couple of weeks back, whereby someone had managed to get a hold of the details of one of the credit cards.

They mmanaged to run up about £280 on it, but the Halifax fraud people were, reassuringly, on the case uber-quick, and telephoned us to confirm if the purchases were legit, and we got the card cancelled.

We *think*, or at least all the evidence points towards the information being stolen online somehow. The last transaction that was made by us, which didn't require the use of the PIN, was our yearly subscription to Symantec - which we did online.

This has put a huge dent in my confidence in buying online, which is a complete pain in the arse, as there's a lot of things I want to buy, but can only do so online - ie PH stuff etc.

Is there anyway I can make shopping online more secure for myself?

GreenV8S

31,024 posts

314 months

Sunday 27th November 2005
quotequote all
I don't have one, but I've been told that with Egg it is possible to generate a single use virtual credit card which I think would prevent this sort of scam.

agent006

12,058 posts

294 months

Sunday 27th November 2005
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Shopping online is far safer than shopping in person in terms of the transaction. The weak link is the risk of a dodgy employee selling your details on.

roadsweeper

3,789 posts

304 months

Monday 28th November 2005
quotequote all
GreenV8S said:
I don't have one, but I've been told that with Egg it is possible to generate a single use virtual credit card which I think would prevent this sort of scam.

cahoot offer disposable credit card numbers too. I use them frequently. Essentially you get a credit card number upon which you can impose a credit limit yourself. So, if the transaction is for £99.99 I impose a £100 limit and use that number. If the number is intercepted during the purchase process or later from the retailer's records it cannot be used again because I have used the credut up. I would recommend this.

Just to echo the other comments, I would reassure you that purchasing online is *much* safer than over the phone. Just to be cautious, try installing Microsoft AntiSpyware Beta to check there isn't a key-logger hiding on your machine.