Credit cards online

[newton's cat]

I registered with a username & password and entered my credit card details all on a single page that had the "little lock" at the bottom, clicked 'submit' - and got a warning box that read:

'You are about to be redirected to a connection that is not secure. The information you are sending to the current site might be retransmitted to a nonsecure site. Do you wish to continue?'

I clicked "No".

The page didn't change.

I presumed that I hadn't sent any info to the site.

However - a few minutes later I entered exactly the same info again and, this time, when I clicked 'submit' - I got a message saying that the username was not available!

So - my credit card details are in the site's server?

I'm using Win98 first edition.

Thanx in advance for any help you can give.

Newton's Cat

[Whyzman]

Wow, that stinks! :( :mad:

I would suggest contacting the Webmaster for the site, and also Customer Service explaining what occured. I would not want my credit card information possibly floating through cyberspace unencrypted!

Scary thought! :eek:

[YODA74]

While you are in the section that has the lock it is secure and when you sent that info it was still secure that error message always pops up be couse you are leaving that secured area but your info remained in the secured area, i would still get in touch with the web master and explain what happened just to make sure was this a secure card like American Express which use a 4 diget code number for on line transactions?

If you cannot get ahold of this site by phone to ask a question I would suggest that mabe you call the credit card co. and put a temporay freeze on this card until you can get some info from these people.

[Whyzman]

Yoda's observation is correct regarding the pop-up. Based on the "redirect" information it may just have taken the encrypted personal data in the secure area and shot you back to the "main" site warning you that you're not in a secure setting anymore.

As we both mentioned, though, I would want verification of that fact from their Webmaster, or Customer Service. In today's "potentially" porous security environment...I'd sure not mess around!

Also, Yoda's suggestion regarding putting a freeze on the card until you get appropriate confirmation would not be a bad idea. My take is that it's not a bad idea to have one credit card used "solely" for Internet purposes, so that you can track all transactions/misdeeds easily.

It's also not a bad idea to request a new card periodically which renders the old numbers obsolete...only drawback is if you've set up any of those auto-withdrawls. Although, that's not always bad, because companies will contact you that they cannot continue to process your orders...which give you a chance to reconsider if you want to continue. :)

[newton's cat]

Originally posted by YODA74
While you are in the section that has the lock it is secure and when you sent that info it was still secure that error message always pops up be couse you are leaving that secured area but your info remained in the secured area, i would still get in touch with the web master and explain what happened just to make sure was this a secure card like American Express which use a 4 diget code number for on line transactions?

If you cannot get ahold of this site by phone to ask a question I would suggest that mabe you call the credit card co. and put a temporay freeze on this card until you can get some info from these people.

The picture I have now is that my details are secure. Sites should not move from secure to unsecure when the secure page contains details like credit card numbers - because of the way this pop-up is worded. The set-up of this site (a small auction site) also results in no confirmatory email when people click "No" on the pop-up - so I can't access the information (can anyone?).

I've sent them an email. However - it's occurred to me that my "annoyed" email will probably cause them to reorganize their site - resulting in more people registering, more bidding, higher winning bids - maybe I should have kept my mouth shut? They have no reserve on all the stuff they auction - they're not far from me and allow collection from their depot.

PIII 550 puter with a 10 gig drive - £50 sort of thing.

Yeah - I should have sat back and thought 'bout it more.

Newton's Cat

[Reid]

While this may only be for U.S. residents, Discover Deskshop (http://www2.discovercard.com/shopcenter/deskshop/main.shtml) creates a single-use credit card number and the actual card number does not go on the Internet. Prior to using that, someone had made a fraudulent purchase totaling $600 on one card. I was eventually clear of those charges, but it took some effort.

[Paul Komski]

Orbiscom Technology (http://www.orbiscom.com/issuers/faq.html) has produced the o-card (used by MBNA and Discover in the United States and AIB Group in Ireland).

I never felt really secure until I got one of these. You get a new Virtual Credit Card (and set the amount limit) for each Transaction; with a new number and any name you want to use. Your normal CC a/c is debited in due course.

[tommy]

Citibank also offers a single use card number for their Visa accounts. (Probably also for master card, but I don't know for sure)

First you have to sign up for the service and downloaded their software. Then when you are ready to enter a card number for an internet purchase, you click on their icon, which automatically links you to them using SSL and gives you a single use card number and expiration date for that purchase. When the vendor submits that transaction to Citi, Citi's processing automatically relates the one time number with your real number. Works great.

[Flick]

I don't know about other countries, but in the USA federal law limits a credit card customer's liability to $50.00 for any illegal use of a credit card. Also, I have never heard of any credit card company holding a good customer liable for even $0.01 that was improperly or illegally charged. My company knows my buying habits and they call me if they see anything they consider to be unusual. I once charged some DVD's online via my credit card (total purchase was $212.00) but within two days I got a call from my credit card company. They asked me if I had charged $6,445.12 to this same company. I replied, "Heck No!". That's all it took. All the charges were removed from my card including the original $212.00. I ended up getting the DVD's for free!