| jayeff |
06-06-2006 05:03 PM |
I felt the same way about their "security" measures when I attempted to change my email address a few weeks ago. The required steps were far beyond anything reasonable to protect me.
So. You or someone on your behalf funds a card. You then have to verify either a bank account or a credit/debit card, which means you will have had close, often face-to-face contact with an institution likely to have checked you out quite thoroughly.
Could I use EPassporte for some illegal activity, prompting them, in a fit of civic-mindedness to investigate my transactions? In theory yes, but I seriously doubt most transactions which trigger these so-called investigations are anywhere near large enough to set off normal alarms. So like the reporter wrote, you spend your money using numbers and codes only you should have, and they flag you for possible fraud.
Very nice. But fraud against whom? The cardholder? Apparently not, because they don't even bother to contact him/her. Fraud against EPassporte? How? They have already have the cardholder's money. Fraud against the seller? Who except EPassporte themselves could cheat the seller?
At the risk of sounding paranoid, the now near routine request for copies of ID for almost any sort of change, seems more like information gathering for its own sake, than fraud protection. If I am solid enough to get a bank account or credit card, why should a relatively easy-to-fake copy of some ID offer EP more peace of mind than that knowledge. And why is it demanded even for something as simple as changing an email address? They ask several private questions, including the last 4 digits of the last card you used to fund the account. They could contact you via your registered email address (which for some bizarre reason they choose not to do). Etc. Etc. It seems to me that if I am smart enough to have compromised a person's account (without them knowing) to the point of providing all the information EP require, a copy ID would be a walk in the park.
And why, whenever these blocked accounts are reported, has EP apparently never contacted the person in question? Whatever steps are needed to unblock an account, how can the cardholder take them unless asked?
I bank online. I pay most of my bills online. I run car insurance and credit card accounts online. All of them sensitive about security. The difference seems to be that they are also sensitive about customer service and usability.
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