| ldinternet |
08-08-2002 11:21 AM |
Okay, I'll play. ;-)
The fact that these guys are in the UK may explain their high sensitivity towards 'fraud prevention'.
I'm not sure how the whole thing is addressed in the USA. But keep with me... a while back, I watched a documentary about online fraud and the Internet. Needless to say it was on British television (one of the cable channels - Bravo, I think). Not that I pick all my information from there but it was a useful source in understanding this.
There were a lot of complaints about the lack of police interest in online fraud, maily credit card fraud, on the Internet, in UK. It isn't treated the same as in the USA, it isn't considered to be "serious". Bascially... it was said that the police don't care, or do very little when it occurs. Of course, if someone happens to be caught, then it IS a big deal. One guy had opened an online electronics store and was using a third party service to verify the cards, and had all kinds of expensive security and security checks in place -- yet still had to close down because a huge percentage of his orders were fraudulent. The website was making a loss, even with the strictest security available. And it isn't like the police were showing any interest. How much truth there is in that, judge for yourself.
It is an explanation as to why they want to see your bank information -- it sucks, but to be seen from their side, they don't want to be in a position where they ship clothes abroad, then find that the money paid has gone back out of their bank account, a week later. All things considered it is still a bullshit billing policy, but not as bad as first impression would tell. Most likely it has happened to them before. Having people send bank details won't prevent all fraud all of the time, but they must find that it cuts down on the amount of it. I guess that is the issue they must address, and the policy they must employ, if their online store is to stay online.
Face to face credit card fraud (i.e, going into a store and using a fake card) is a big issue here ... there have been cases documented on Crime Watch (can be considered the UK version of AMW, I suppose) where there have been appeals to locate and/or name people caught on CCTV using fake cards to purchase goods. Internet fraud, not as big an issue for whatever reason. Most likely because previous attempts at prosecution have been unsuccessful, or not as successful as anticipated.
But hey... thats life. :smokin
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