Online Transaction Security

Recently with the increase of online banking options and shopping sites that encourage the use of checking and credit card information, online transaction security is even more important. As he web grows and diversifies with options for online payments, a number of false sites pose a constant threat to all computer users.

Even exchanging information without the appropriate encryption technology or security measures can make a computer user or identity particularly vulnerable. Online transactions take place at record speed, oftentimes faster than a standard credit card transaction or check processing. Providing personal data on the Internet does pose various risks, and taking preventative action is a necessary part of ensuring online safety.

Do you know that online transactions can be monitored, recorded, and key logged by a variety of hackers and third parties without the knowledge or consent of the user. This information is transmitted across networks and opens up the door to a variety o risks that can be fall into the hands of the wrong party. If passwords are stored on a user’s computer, they are especially vulnerable to security breaches. A computer security hole can open up the door to the password files, and hackers can extract and copy this information without the user’s knowledge.

Therefore password files and information have to be protected. You can do this by frequently changing of the password, and using unidentifiable keyword combinations. Also ensure passwords are a combination of numbers, capital and small letters, and symbols can prevent any manipulation simply by guessing the code, and taking the steps to change the password frequently may help with unauthorized access. Do not sharing passwords with any other person is another important step; online transactions rely heavily on a user name and password.

Nowadays, secure websites and pages will feature two important conditions that indicate they are using encryption technology and a Secure Socket Layer. This is indicated by “https” (letter ”s” after the http portion of the URL), and means that the server is a secure one. Microsoft Windows also offers an alert that relays a message indicating whether information over the network is secure. This can help to filter out any risky websites or services.

Downloading from trusted sources can help to protect a user’s sensitive information, as this limits the potential risk of viruses, worms, and other dangerous threats that can lead to data mining and data loss. Making sure all websites that involve direct credit card information and checking account information exchange have a padlock symbol or icon will ensure that the site has been assigned the authority to accept secure and protected information.

Using software that protects and encrypts sensitive information like user names and passwords, and highlights if a site is secure or not, may dramatically improve your online transaction security. Such software should:

• Remove known crimeware and stop suspicious applications.
• Store your passwords in encrypted mode.
• Block known phishing web sites and warn about those that are suspicious.
• Work together with antivirus and Internet security software you may have installed.
• Update automatically in order to keep up to date with the latest threats.
  
  

Online Shopping (Virus)

Sometimes when we are doing online shopping or transaction, we would like to avoid viruses.If we receievd an en email containing an unsolicited commercial message, you should not open any attached file whose name ends in ".exe." Clicking on such files could activate a computer virus that might affect the operation of your computer and/or damage the information stored on your computer.

You can also protect yourself against viruses carried by e-mail or by computer files that you’ve received on a floppy disk, by purchasing and installing on your computer or network a virus-protection program. A good antivirus could fix this problem

Online Shopping (Password)

It is important to use different password for your online transaction and email account or network password. Some website require you to change your online password after 3 months to ensure the security of your account.

When we are choosing our password, it is not recommended to use our address, birth date, phone number, or recognizable words. Choose a string of at least five letters, numbers, and punctuation marks.

If you are recording your password down pls do not write down any password near your computer where someone could see it. If you do record it somewhere, reverse the order of the characters or transpose some letters or numbers. In that hat way, someone finding it won’t have discovered your true password.

Online Shopping (Phone In)

Another way of making payment online is using the phone. That is of course if you are willing to give out your personal credit card info away online. Most web merchants/seller allow you to order online and give your credit card information over the phone to make the payment.

If you’re planning to use phone in option, do remember to jot down the phone number, seller company name, the date and time of your call, and the name of the person who recorded your credit card number.

It is never advise to give out your password and credit card number using ordinary email. If your email been hacked then, your personal info will fall into the hand of other especially identity theft.

Online Shopping (Internet connection security)

One of the important things to take not when your doing online shopping is our internet connection seciruty. How do we know that our internet connection are secure?

Most website use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology to encrypt the perssonal and credit card information that we send over the Internet. You can see that your address bar starts with https: instead of usual http:. Sometimes the website will also inform the users that they are using SSL security.

There are also other security technology, such as Secure Electronic Transaction, or SET, technology which use different principles. SET or SSL technology are designed to make your connection secure. The other ways to tell whether a website uses security software is that you will see a padlock icon at the bottom right of your browse (Internet Explorer).

Online Safety Part 2

Form of payment

Paypal

• Let say we are buying from someone online. Then the seller offers PayPal, first thing to do is to go to the PayPal site and try to send the seller a mock payment to see if the email address matches the one in the end of auction notice. If their past auctions show a PayPal logo, but PayPal does not show the email address you have as being a current PayPal account then maybe the account been used by someone else or hijacked. Of course unless the seller is using 2 different email account.

Credit Card

• Credit card is one of the safest way to make payment for the buyer. But of course there will be certain charge back protection for the transaction. U can check with your credit card bank issuer as they sometimes charge for insurance if in cases of fraud we can get back our money. American Express might not have extra charge (pls checked for latest T&C)

Cheque or Money Order

• Cheque or money order is generally will prove that the seller is legitimate, as the person needs a valid bank account and valid ID to cash it. Since the persons banks /organizations who cash out these items are at risk of losing their money if they don't validate the authenticity of the seller, the persons /banks/organizations who cash out these items them are likely to take thorough precautions. Combined with the steps in authenticating the seller, it will provide you with a trail to the seller that law enforcement can follow. Because of this, outright scammers will usually not accept payment via check or money order

Bank Wire Transfer or Cahiers Check

• Bank wire transfer is not a fairly secure way to pay and a cashier's check only slightly better. Recovering money is unlikely on either, though a seller with a legitimate bank account with all other information verified as suggested above should be an ok risk. Buyers should proceed with great caution though, and make sure they are completely satisfied with the legitimacy of the seller before using these methods of payment. Do not proceed if there are doubts and inconsistencies issues. If the seller requests you wire payment to a location other than the one in the auction/listing, do not proceed. For example if the according to the listing the seller is located in the US, don't wire payment to Brazil or India, no matter how legitimate the reason (read that excuse) the seller comes up with.

Online Safety Part 1

• As I meantioned earlier, when we are buying from someone online, it is highly recommended to check the seller's feedback. Please take note not just the percentages or numbers but the actual comments because certain info may be manipulated. See if they have been habitually selling what you are interested in buying. For example if they have been selling clothes and are suddenly selling Hifi at great prices, we should be caution. If they have never sold a single item before and first thing they are selling is a high priced item, proceed, but with caution. Better be safe then sorry.

• Retrieved the sellers contact information and call them. Get their full name address and phone number, no matter what method that you are using to pay them. If they have a company get the company info as well. Double check the business name with the Yellow Pages or ROC to see whether the company really exist. If you find any fishy with the info, then stop the deal. Especially the they request western union.

Beware of fake items online

It's very hard to differentiate counterfeit products or imitation sometimes. Especially when we are dealing online because we might not able to inspect the items. Once we received the item, it might be too late to realize it. So it's very important to read the item description clearly. If there is any doubt, you can always email or contact the seller.

Items such as fake, look alike, replica, AAA, fraud etc. can be found in the market easily. As a matter of fact, these fake products are sold in the black market for cheaper price than posted online sometimes. Educating online buyers can create awareness of this matter.

This scenario will tarnish local online shopping website and auction/selling site reputation. In Malaysia, it is not easy to stop and curb all these fake, look alike, replica, AAA, fraud etc.

Pay Pal can withdraw from local bank credit card

There had been increase numbers of paypal account user in Malaysia. The good news is that now paypal can transfer to your local bank credit card account. In this case you can withdraw money using ur credit card at atm machine or offset your credit balance of your credit card.

If you login to your Paypal account, click withdraw and you will see an option to withdraw your paypal fund to your credit card!USD5 fee per withdrawal, and the limit is USD500 a day

If you got credit card balance, amount transferred from PayPal will be knock-off with that credit balance. If the credit card balance is zero or less than the amount transferred from PayPal, you are not advise to withdraw at the ATM. It will be considered as cash advance withdrawal and subject to charges eventhough the credit card amount is already debit balance.

What you can do is to give an instruction to the credit card issuer to transfer that debit balance amount to your saving or current account (clear in 5 working days) with no charge.

Paypal policy on surcharge

No Surcharges. Under Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express regulations and the laws of several states, including California, merchants may not charge a fee to the buyer for accepting credit card payments (often called a "surcharge"). You agree that you will not impose a surcharge or any other fee for accepting PayPal as payment. This restriction does not prevent you from imposing a handling fee in connection with the sale of goods or services, as long as the handling fee does not operate as a surcharge (in other words, the handling fee for transactions paid through PayPal may not be higher than the handling fee for transactions paid through other payment methods). Nor does this restriction apply to Pound-denominated transactions by sellers residing in the United Kingdom listing items for sale on a UK-based website.

Pay Pal Contact Information

PAYPAL CONTACT INFORMATION

PayPal Inc Mountain View, CA 650 864-8000

PayPal, Inc. 1840 Embarcadero Rd Palo Alto CA 94303

PayPal, Inc. 11128 John Galt Blvd Omaha, NE 68137

(877) 672-9725 1-877-6-paypal
(888) 221-1161 help center
(402) 537-5740 (fax)
(402) 935-2258 Craig, complaints resolution manager

(866) 272-9725 (800) 836-1859 Premier Account Holders

(650) 251-1100
(402) 935-2000
(402) 935-2001
(402) 935-2062
(402) 935-7733

Buying Via Paypal from Malaysia in ebay

Sometimes we wanted to buy some item from overseas seller in ebay. We might ask how much does ebay insure for our transaction. If you read ebay policy, ebay has US200 refund for fraud. To be safe then never buy anything more than what they cover. If you are using local bank, then you can use TT to overseas account. Telegrahic transfer is not cover in eby auction fraud terms.Unless they trust you and you already have the item in hand. But of course if the seller is honest and trustworthy then should not be any problem.

Cheers!

What to take precaution when dealing online

When we are having an online transaction, it is very important that we take few precaution. Over the years I had heard many cases where people get cheated, fraud cases and personal information leaked out.

Here are some checklist to consider:

1. Always make sure your computer do not stored any important data. If u want to store then use some encryption software. This is especially if your computer is shared or easily accessible to others.
2. When your using others computer or at the cyber cafe, always clear your cache from the internet browser after usage. If can make the security option at the login page.
3. Never give away your credit card number or personal identity number to unknown site or party. They can use this info to hack into your credit card account. This include when your chatting online as well. Never trust people easily online.
   
4. Install spy ware software to avoid personal information in your computer to be send out to others.
5. Do not be greedy. Sometimes certain offer are too good to be true. But we want to believe its our luck but ends up we got cheated. Money don't fall from the sky! :P
6. Do some study or research if you want to do any transaction. Ask around or search for forums that discuss the issue. It will help you understand better.

Have a nice day!

What's hot in lelong website?

If your thinking what is hot selling item in lelong website.. well it is definitely electrical and gadgets such as handphones, ipods, computers and PDAs. Most of the item which people browse through are gadgets compared to clothings and cds. Probaly Malaysian prefer to buy clothes at the retail outlets and shop, while pirated cds/dvds are easily available.

Reporting Online Fraud Cases to cyber crime

For those who is cheated or want to report any online case, it would be more effective to go straight to the Cyber Crime Division in Bukit Aman ,Kuala Lumpur. Just bring along all the proof or documents to support your report. If you need to check bank account info of the seller who cheated you, the report is needed to get Bank Negara approval to retrieve the bank account holder info.

My friend just made a report there with few people who got cheated by the same person.

Consumer Tribunal Claims

For some dispute in online transaction you can refer to :

http://www.kpdnhq.gov.my/homepage/english/consumer.html
http://www.eraconsumer.org/program/S...r_Tribunal.htm

Or you can file your complaints to:

Consumer Tribunal Claims
Tribunal Tuntutan Pengguna Malaysia,
Tingkat 16, Putra Place, 100, Jalan Putra,
50622 KUALA LUMPUR
Tel: 03 - 40492300 / 40424181 Fax: 03 - 40424259

Before you make the report make sure you got all the proof and document ready

Alternately you can visit the branches throughout Malaysia

All the branch office address and phone number.

PERLIS KEDAH PULAU PINANG PERAK
Tribunal of Consumer Claims, Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs ,
2 Floor, Bangunan Tun Haji
Abdul Razak,
Jalan Tun Haji Abdul Razak,
01000 KANGAR, PERLIS
Tel: 04 - 9761478
Fax: 04 - 9762490

Tribunal of Consumer Claims, Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs ,
2 Floor, Wisma Persekutuan,
Jalan Kampong Bharu,
05622 ALOR SETAR
KEDAH
Tel: 04 - 7339062
Fax: 04 - 7303759

Tribunal of Consumer Claims, Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs ,
8 Floor, Bangunan Tuanku
Syed Putra,
Leboh Downing,
10300 PULAU PINANG
Tel: 04 - 2616168
Fax: 04 - 2638877

Tribunal of Consumer Claims, Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs ,
Ground and First Floor,
No. 38 dan 42,
Persiaran Datoh,
30622 IPOH, PERAK
Tel: 05 - 2555001
Fax: 05 - 2541192


SELANGOR NEGERI SEMBILAN MELAKA JOHOR
Tribunal of Consumer Claims, Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs ,
2 Floor, Bangunan PKNS,
40622 SHAH ALAM
SELANGOR

Tel: 03 – 5595544/ 5593684
Fax: 03 - 5595255

Tribunal of Consumer Claims, Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs ,
11 Floor, Wisma Persekutuan,
Jalan Dato’ Abd. Kadir,
70500 SEREMBAN
NEGERI SEMBILAN
Tel: 06 – 7630911/ 7630372
Fax: 06 - 7624409

Tribunal of Consumer Claims, Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs ,
Level 9, Bangunan Yayasan Melaka,
Jalan Hang Tuah,
75300 MELAKA
Tel: 06 - 2820422
Fax: 06 - 2821748

Tribunal of Consumer Claims, Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs ,
Floor 5, Pusat Profesional,
Jalan Dato’ Syed Mohd. Mufti,
80000 JOHOR BAHRU
JOHOR
Tel: 07 – 2234699/ 2236270
Fax: 07 - 2236434

PAHANG TERENGGANU KELANTAN SARAWAK
Tribunal of Consumer Claims, Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs ,
4 Floor, Wisma Persekutuan,
Jalan Gambut,
25000 KUANTAN
PAHANG
Tel: 09 – 5121234/ 5121235
Fax: 09 - 5554942

Tribunal of Consumer Claims, Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs ,
4 Floor, Wisma Persekutuan,
20200 KUALA TERENGGANU
TERENGGANU
Tel: 09 - 6221234
Fax: 09 - 6237893

Tribunal of Consumer Claims, Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs ,
10 Floor, Wisma Persekutuan,
Jalan Bayam,
15299 KOTA BHARU
KELANTAN
Tel: 09 – 7481117/ 7481014
Fax: 09 - 7472820

Tribunal of Consumer Claims, Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs ,
Tingkat 8, Bangunan Persekutuan,
Jalan Simpang Tiga,
93400 KUCHING
SARAWAK
Tel: 082 - 245202
Fax: 082 - 257920

SABAH LABUAN
Tribunal of Consumer Claims, Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs ,
Tingkat 3, Blok D, Bangunan KWSP, No. 49,
Jalan Karamunsing,
88622 KOTA KINABALU
SABAH
Tel: 088 - 235702
Fax: 088 - 235878

Tribunal of Consumer Claims, Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs ,
6C1, Tingkat 6, Blok 4,
Ujana Kewangan, 87000
Wilayah Persekutuan, LABUAN

Tel: 087 - 417669
Fax: 087 - 452079

Fraud case in lelong and ebay

Last week I encounter 2 cases of fraud cases in lelong and ebay. One involving my sister in ebay and the other from a friend in lelong. So the question is how safe is it to do online transaction? Are the rating in the profile of the seller enough to determine the seller credibility?

My sister make a deal with a seller in Melaka where the seller have good ratings in ebay since 2007. Looks promising and a good deal. Call up the buyer asking about the handphone and agree to bank in the money to the seller. After bank in the money seller said will send the item soon. After waiting for a week still not received the item. Call back but no reply. Even though my sister lost RM350 only but I heard many buyers was conned by this seller. Even there is a guy from Penang got cheated RM1000 by the seller and ask my sister what to do? So what can we do..... If you got the seller IC and bank account, u probably can do a police report at the Bukit Aman handling cyber crime. But chances of getting the culprit is not that big.

My other friend was cheated by a verified member in lelong. Thought that verified member won't cheat but still you never know. The person might be using others IC to verify. Again people trying to earn money by cheating people who genuinely want to do business online. My advice is if possible meet up to deal but then people do online business do safe time to meet up. Well hopefully one day we will have a better environment in our Malaysia cyber world to do online trading...... If you are cheated, it's good to make a police report at cyber crime unit so that they have a record. The more cases are reported, the more serious our police and government are more serious in the matter. If they can have cyber police to monitor blogs then why not be more effective in catching crime committed online.

If possible read the forums update to know whats happening. People post info about fraud cases to warn others.

Buying and Selling in Mudah.com.my

Recently I came into a new website in Malaysia for traders to sell and buy online. Mudah.com.my is an easy website like a classified ads where you can just post your item for sale with info and pics attached. U can search the items posted by categories and by state.
My sister bought a hp from that website lately. She came across the ads in the website and call up the seller to meet up and deal..... feel free to browse the website here ....

Cheers

Trading in ebay.com.my

Ebay is another great place to do online shopping. Ebay.com.my was brought to Malaysia about 2 years back. The system used in ebay is much easier compared to lelong.com as you don't have to be verify to sell and buy online. T0 post item in ebay is free compared to lelong u need some posting fees for pics and etc.

I think ebay in Malaysia has not been so successful compared to lelong is due to the mentality and culture of people using the cyber world shopping in Malaysia. Some people are not really looking into doing business in ebay but rather cheating people money. Sometimes because of few bad cases can spoil the people view about shopping in ebay. Some of my friends prefer dealing by meeting up through ebay especially from members who are new. But for ebay members with good profile and rating should be not a problem.

In order to have a secure and good shopping environment online, we need cooperation from the buyer, sellers and people running the website. Besides educating the people using the internet and also cyber laws to govern the running of this online business.

Cheers...

Buying and selling in Lelong.com

Lelong.com is a local Malaysia "ebay" alike website which offers posting, selling, buying and bidding of stuffs. To buy or sell things in lelong, you need to register in the website. As a non verify member you are limited to certain access in lelong such as limited watchlist, quickgrab option and etc. One thing about lelong is that to be a verify member u need to fax or email your IC to them in order for them to verify your identity. Thus this allowed the members to have more confidence and secure shopping environment when dealing in lelong. There are 3 ways of application to be verify in lelong verified as buyer, verified as seller and verified as a company. Verification process usually take 2 working days.

Benefits of being a verified member is
a. You tell our community that you are now human being with a real name.
b. No limit for you to post item (unless quota imposed due to violation)
c. No limit for you to bid (unless seller block you from their auction)
d. Lelong community will be able to identify that you are verified with this batch.
e. Verified batch will show next to your posting
f. You can post item with picture for free
g. You can bold your title
h. You can use credit card to pay fees, subject to further approval (Top up iAccount)
i. Your item listing position are rank higher and non verified members.
i. You can place bad comment on sellers.

After being a verify lelong member for 4 years now, it has been a good experience buying and selling online. Seems like everyone is trying to get cheap and good stuff online whether its new or second hand. Sometimes if ur lucky u get really good bargain online. U can also sell ur stuff online as well. After each successful transaction online, u will get rating from others. This rating will enable u to receive good comment and increase ur status level as member. Usually people will look at the rating to know whether your a good seller or buyer.

A few tips that I learn dealing in lelong:
1. If you're dealing with non verify member online, prefer cash on collection or meet up if possible. Unless he/she has good comment and rating.
2. Read the posting properly and understand it before bidding because there are terms and condition given by the buyer or seller. Even small written words should be read properly to avoid misunderstanding.

If you need any advice or question feel free to drop me an email at here

Happy trading...
Cheers

Buying and selling online in Malaysia

In Malaysia, buying and selling online was not very famous and common about 6-7 years ago. Most of the time we only heard about trading online via ebay. Even Ebay Malaysia was not available at that time.I remember the nearest ebay website for dealing was Singapore. Most of the item posted on ebay was either from US or Europe. And we need to have some online account such as paypal or credit card for transaction. One day, I heard about a online local website like ebay was lelong.com. One of my friend bought a bracelet from lelong and told me about it. The first impression that I have was is it safe and can it be done?

Well today we can see the online trading/transaction had grown so much in Malaysia with lelong.com having millions of hit per day and ebay.com also available now. I myself joined ebay since 2005 and lelong since 2004. I did many transactions and it has been a good experience even though there are 2 times I been conned. :P A lesson to be learned. One thing I learned that we need some cyber law to protect those trading online and also to catch those cyber criminal. In Malaysia, the local authority has draft cyber laws and also special cyber cops to deal with the uprising of cyber criminal in Malaysia.

Hopefully we will find a better place to trade online..... I will share some info on lelong and ebay feedback being a user from Malaysia.

Regards

Thing to note to prevent fraud

1. It is important not to simply bank in your money to anyone's bank account, especially the seller name and the bank account has different name. Make sure the name in account,and their bank account name is the same. In case you need, please ask for the seller's IC(updated : It's is now easier to create bank account with fake / stolen IC, so please beware if you are given their IC / Bank Account which is similar name and they are new.)
2. If any member request you to bank in money to bank account other then their own name. Report to the admin or webmaster, this are assume to have high fraud risk ( They will normally request you to bank into their boy friends, girl friend or associate name)
3. Advisable not to trade with a member whose phone is not working or refuse to disclose at least a home or office number. (This person is highly suspicious. So far, all the fraud cases that I know of fit into this category. The seller will try to stay anonymous until he/she receives your money and then disappear).
4. Not advisable to do trade with members who's not responsive.
5. You should get the seller's address. This is to ensure that you can return the goods if it is found to be faulty.

Hope this helps ! Happy trading

Buying from Ebay without credit card

If you are buying from seller in ebay without credit card. here are some checklist to take note:

1. Check reliable seller, Power Seller etc.
2. Check item & shipping condition if available worldwide
3. Email seller to - Ask for confirmation (some willing to send even they state as not)
- Shipping price (USD convert to RM) - Exchange shipping / payment address etc
4. Pay via TT, Wiretransfer or Postal Order. U might also consider western union which is
faster for overseas deal. All process might take a few days because of time different. Must
be patient due to distance and types of courier you choose, and don't forget some item
might have custom duties.

Negotiate with the seller if he/she can ship item as promotional item, if you dealing with gadget item like gadget or computer parts or cd's etc, because some of the item if send to Malaysia might be charge custom duties can from rm50 - rm300 per item. And lastly checked if the item send by the courier is insured. Just in case the item lost in transit or etc, u still get something back. Just to be safe.

Cases of fraud

Case 1 -Group of youngster were caught for cheating over hundred of buyer from the internet by posting handphone (premium item) on the internet / cybercafe. Collect money and dissappear. They have many to con over 1 million RM.

Case 2-Experience bidder were con after convinced by new seller who mentioned in auction that he had a physical store in a small town in other state, and seller's shop address are also posted in the auction detail. The seller have no problem to meet face to face.This experience bidder at the end, bank in the money, and seller dissappear.

If you're cheated just learn from the mistakes
Remember to take more precautions with expensive items
Don't lose sleep over a couple of hundred ringgit
Feeling angry only poisons our bodies and makes our lives miserable
Life must go on!