One of the great advantages of debit cards is that the card can be used to buy goods and services over the internet. Because a debit card uses the same payment mechanism as credit cards, it has the same great flexibility without running up a balance or being charged high interest rates.
However, just like credit cards, a debit card can be vulnerable to online fraud. While there are a number of ways this can happen, the three most common are: non-delivery of a paid-for product, debit card details stolen off a site, and debit card details stolen off a database.
One way to guard against online fraud is to shop only with trusted online merchants or with those associated around a major brand, such as Amazon.com, which offers a trustworthy guarantee of receipt. These sites are well secured and stand by their customer service, and will make a sincere effort to keep their data secure.
If forced to shop with more obscure sites, select the ones that utilise a recognised shopping cart service, such as PayPal. Shopping cart services handle the card user’s details without releasing them to the website. As well, the information will be kept available for future use in a secure manner, so the card holder doesn’t have to submit their debit card details repeatedly. In this way a wider range of websites can be patronised, although some time is spent researching and opening accounts with the shopping card service.
For those who shop with less secure sites, the debit card details can be stolen off the Internet or from a database. This is usually rare, but it can happen with a range of sites, including larger ones that are expected to be secure. If this happens, the debit card company or issuing bank will be informed of the breach and they will issue new debit cards, cancelling the old ones. Unauthorised transactions that occur under these circumstances will be refunded to the card holder’s account.
Whenever shopping online, it’s always a good idea to monitor the account balance, and bank statements should be checked as soon as they arrive every month.
