Mind the Web

e-commerce does have its pitfalls:

By Pramod DE SILVA

The Internet, or rather the World Wide Web, has made our lives easier. The whole world is practically at our fingertips. All we need is a computer or mobile tablet/phone and an internet connection.

You can read a newspaper published in the US from the comfort of your home in Colombo; check what your friends are up to in Facebook and Twitter; check email; make a video call to your aunt in New Zealand free and book a ticket online to visit her in summer; check the weather in a city thousands of kilometres away; view a trailer for the latest Hollywood blockbuster; download an MP3 track of your favourite song; order the latest bestselling book... the list goes on.

Our lives are so intertwined with the Net, we often wonder how we ever did without it a couple of decades back.

One of the most promising features of the World Wide Web is e-commerce - in short, the ability to procure goods and services through the Web.

e-commerce is growing at an exponential pace - worldwide revenues are likely to reach US$ 680 billion this year and by 2013, it will reach nearly US$ 1,000 billion. Amazon, the world’s biggest online retailer, records 73 transactions every second on its US site alone. Visa, MasterCard and American Express, the three major card companies, are striving to make online shopping still safer with the help of leading computer security specialists.

e-commerce is really convenient, because you do not have to visit a physical office or shop to get things done or buy goods. You do not even have to be in the country of the online retailer - most of them deliver worldwide. All you need is a valid credit or debit card and an online connection. The rest is as easy as filing a form and engaging in your transaction. Or is it?

Online shopping or other forms of online transactions such as the payment of examination fees come with many pitfalls, which can be avoided if you take certain precautions.

Physical signature

The first thing to remember is that the retailer cannot see you. And you do not place a physical signature on an online transaction. This means that the retailer will accept anyone who provides the relevant information, including the secret three or four digit Card Verification Code (CVC) on the back of the card. This has led to ‘identity theft’ on the Net, whereby fraudsters pretending to be genuine owners of credit cards make purchases on the Net.

The first step is to keep your cards safe, physically. Never write a credit card PIN code on the card itself. If you have more than one card, use only one card for online transactions. And keep a photocopy of all your cards (both sides), so that you have evidence in case of a dispute involving a transaction on a lost or stolen card. Statements and receipts should also be tallied and kept separately.

Another step is to make your computer secure. Install the latest anti-virus program and firewalls to keep your data safe. Install the latest commercial full release version (not beta) of your favourite browser and enable its security features, if any. It is also not a good idea to keep your credit card info on the hard drive of a computer.

Shop or transact only on trusted sites - the bigger global retailers are generally safe. Check the spellings of online sites and their security certificates - there are fake sites that look like the real thing.

Look for a ‘lock’ sign on the browser address bar (not on the displayed page) before you type in credit card numbers and also for the prefix ‘https’ - the S is for Secure.

Do look for security certificates and systems - all modern e-commerce sites are now based on Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology, an encryption method for online data. Each of these sites has a unique SSL certificate which can be identified and acknowledged by the browser.

This way, encrypted data, including credit card numbers and addresses, are exchanged only between the customer’s computer and retailer’s server. No one can interrupt the process and pry the numbers or details.

Additional steps such as Verisign, Mastercard Securecode and Verified by Visa add another level of protection - the latter prompts you to a page in your credit card issuing bank’s website, where you have to provide a so-called ‘3D’ password that only you should ever know. Some of the latest browser address bars turn green when displaying secure pages, which is another way of identifying a trusted site. You should never ever provide credit or debit card numbers on an unsecure site and it goes without saying that credit card numbers should never be mentioned in an email. Scan for physical contact details such as an address or landline customer service telephone numbers in a given website - you can phone them and do a search on the Net about the retailer.

If you want to limit giving away your card number to a lot of sites, but would still like to shop online, opt for a service such as PayPal.

You do have to give your card number to PayPal, which has a unique verification system to check whether it is indeed yours and then, you can use PayPal to pay your way through a lot of other sites. The advantage is that the retailers never get to see your credit card number as PayPal processes it and pays them. However, some major sites still do not accept PayPal payments.

It pays to read your account statements, so that any suspicious transactions can be reported to the issuing bank. It is also prudent to have an arrangement with your bank to verify any unusual transaction with you. It is also better to use credit cards for bigger online transactions rather than debit cards, because disputed transactions conducted on a credit card can always be refunded. A debit card, on the other hand, is directly linked to one’s bank account and no refunds are possible.

Too much information

Apart from credit card details themselves, it is advisable not to give too much information away on the Net, including on sites such as Facebook. Choose your friends wisely on the Net and limit the information that can be viewed publicly. For example, do not tweet that you will be away from home on a two-week vacation - someone can use that information in a harmful way. Also, do not fall for ‘you have won!’ lottery scams on the Internet and do not click links on unsolicited emails which may offer goods at amazingly low prices.

Always log out after an online shopping session - do not close the browser window directly because that may still leave accessible data on the cache memory.

If you follow these simple, but effective guidelines, online transactions can be a real boon. They save time, energy and money.

There is no need to wait in line if you go online. But online safety and security are of paramount importance. As the Web reaches more people around the world, online trade will increase drastically and brick and mortar stores may face bleak times. Online transactions will no doubt get safer as the years go by, but it is always better to be safe than sorry.