Hi guys... here's a report from our local papers ...
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The Strait Times - Singapore
Text Abstracted from http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/money/story/0,4386,175174-1046901540,00.html?
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MARCH 5, 2003
Sorry, we don't take credit cards from Singapore
Some US websites that give security advice have put the Republic on a blacklist of nations prone to online fraud
By Hugh Chow
FINANCE CORRESPONDENT
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TRY to buy something online from some Internet retailers in the United States and you may find your credit card rejected, even though you have not busted your credit limit.
This is because some US websites specialising in e-commerce retailing are advising online merchants to stop accepting all Singapore credit cards.
The reason: Singapore has been included in a group of 'blacklisted' countries seen as likely sources of Internet-based credit card fraud.
'Our advice is to just not ship to any of these countries. In the long haul, you will lose money,' says a warning on one site, www.cartserver.com
The company behind it, which provides e-commerce services to retailers, reckons the 'vast majority' of orders from some countries, including Singapore, are fraudulent.
Another site - www.mer chantfraudsquad.com - is telling retailers to check online orders carefully when the credit card information or billing address shows a Singapore connection. The website is run by The Worldwide E-Commerce Fraud Prevention Network, which has some 5,800 members including American Express, Barnes & Noble and Expedia.
It is difficult to gauge the level of influence this type of advice has within the online trading industry.
Indeed, many of the best-known US online retailers such as bookseller Amazon.com are unfazed by the prospect of this greater 'risk' and continue to accept Singapore-issued credit cards.
But some lesser-known online retailers appear to have heeded the advice.
Mr Stephane Maes-Place, 46, who runs an Internet services company based in Tanjong Pagar, was puzzled when a US-based website Go Daddy Software, which sells Internet domain names, rejected his HSBC MasterCard last year.
The firm told him it was no longer accepting Singapore-based cards because of past run-ins with online fraud.
'I was shocked and surprised because I wouldn't have expected something like this to have happened in Singapore,' said Mr Maes-Place.
When contacted by The Straits Times, a Go Daddy spokesman said that 'due to a very high occurrence of fraud', it was unable to process transactions in several markets, including Bulgaria, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, China and Hongkong.
Another website that states it will not deal with Singapore customers 'without extensive investigation and personal contact by telephone' is The Recovery Emporium, which offers services for groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous.
Internet security expert Dale Martin, who is the principal consultant at Vectra Information Security, expressed surprise that online traders were being warned about the apparent risks linked to Singapore-issued cards.
'I know that quite a few American websites won't take orders from Asia but I hadn't heard that it was Singapore specifically.'
He suggested that Singapore may have been included because of its close proximity to other blacklisted countries.
Meanwhile, credit card firms could shed little light on the matter. Visa International country manager Dennis Ng said: 'As far as our data shows, we don't seem to see this. It isn't something that is staring out at me.'
But he suggested that US-based merchants may be more reluctant to send goods to certain countries because they cannot verify the addresses supplied with these orders.
However, Mr Ng's counterpart at rival MasterCard International acknowledged the problem.
Mr T.V. Seshadri, MasterCard vice-president and country manager, said: 'This situation is not specific to cards issued in Singapore, nor is it specific to MasterCard cards. It is more a function of sales policies adopted by e-commerce merchants in various countries than the non-acceptance of a specific card.
'In the virtual world, merchants tend to exercise a greater degree of caution to minimise the risk of fraudulent transactions, as they are ultimately liable. Merchants block transactions depending on their experience of fraudulent online claims.'
He said that cases of rejected Singapore-issued credit cards were so 'intermittent' that no figures were kept on how often this happens.
According to the Commercial Affairs Department, there were 29 cases of online credit card fraud in 2001, up from 10 in the previous year.
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Copyright @ 2003 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved.
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Is our reputation really that bad? In your online experience, do frauds come out from Singapore? Our government has over the years maintained a very tight hold on corruption, fraud etc. Singapore is known for its rules and regulations and certainly, if the rest of the world sees Singapore as a place where credit card fraud originate, then that would be detrimental to the reputation that our government has built up.
Comments ?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Strait Times - Singapore
Text Abstracted from http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/money/story/0,4386,175174-1046901540,00.html?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MARCH 5, 2003
Sorry, we don't take credit cards from Singapore
Some US websites that give security advice have put the Republic on a blacklist of nations prone to online fraud
By Hugh Chow
FINANCE CORRESPONDENT
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TRY to buy something online from some Internet retailers in the United States and you may find your credit card rejected, even though you have not busted your credit limit.
This is because some US websites specialising in e-commerce retailing are advising online merchants to stop accepting all Singapore credit cards.
The reason: Singapore has been included in a group of 'blacklisted' countries seen as likely sources of Internet-based credit card fraud.
'Our advice is to just not ship to any of these countries. In the long haul, you will lose money,' says a warning on one site, www.cartserver.com
The company behind it, which provides e-commerce services to retailers, reckons the 'vast majority' of orders from some countries, including Singapore, are fraudulent.
Another site - www.mer chantfraudsquad.com - is telling retailers to check online orders carefully when the credit card information or billing address shows a Singapore connection. The website is run by The Worldwide E-Commerce Fraud Prevention Network, which has some 5,800 members including American Express, Barnes & Noble and Expedia.
It is difficult to gauge the level of influence this type of advice has within the online trading industry.
Indeed, many of the best-known US online retailers such as bookseller Amazon.com are unfazed by the prospect of this greater 'risk' and continue to accept Singapore-issued credit cards.
But some lesser-known online retailers appear to have heeded the advice.
Mr Stephane Maes-Place, 46, who runs an Internet services company based in Tanjong Pagar, was puzzled when a US-based website Go Daddy Software, which sells Internet domain names, rejected his HSBC MasterCard last year.
The firm told him it was no longer accepting Singapore-based cards because of past run-ins with online fraud.
'I was shocked and surprised because I wouldn't have expected something like this to have happened in Singapore,' said Mr Maes-Place.
When contacted by The Straits Times, a Go Daddy spokesman said that 'due to a very high occurrence of fraud', it was unable to process transactions in several markets, including Bulgaria, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, China and Hongkong.
Another website that states it will not deal with Singapore customers 'without extensive investigation and personal contact by telephone' is The Recovery Emporium, which offers services for groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous.
Internet security expert Dale Martin, who is the principal consultant at Vectra Information Security, expressed surprise that online traders were being warned about the apparent risks linked to Singapore-issued cards.
'I know that quite a few American websites won't take orders from Asia but I hadn't heard that it was Singapore specifically.'
He suggested that Singapore may have been included because of its close proximity to other blacklisted countries.
Meanwhile, credit card firms could shed little light on the matter. Visa International country manager Dennis Ng said: 'As far as our data shows, we don't seem to see this. It isn't something that is staring out at me.'
But he suggested that US-based merchants may be more reluctant to send goods to certain countries because they cannot verify the addresses supplied with these orders.
However, Mr Ng's counterpart at rival MasterCard International acknowledged the problem.
Mr T.V. Seshadri, MasterCard vice-president and country manager, said: 'This situation is not specific to cards issued in Singapore, nor is it specific to MasterCard cards. It is more a function of sales policies adopted by e-commerce merchants in various countries than the non-acceptance of a specific card.
'In the virtual world, merchants tend to exercise a greater degree of caution to minimise the risk of fraudulent transactions, as they are ultimately liable. Merchants block transactions depending on their experience of fraudulent online claims.'
He said that cases of rejected Singapore-issued credit cards were so 'intermittent' that no figures were kept on how often this happens.
According to the Commercial Affairs Department, there were 29 cases of online credit card fraud in 2001, up from 10 in the previous year.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright @ 2003 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Is our reputation really that bad? In your online experience, do frauds come out from Singapore? Our government has over the years maintained a very tight hold on corruption, fraud etc. Singapore is known for its rules and regulations and certainly, if the rest of the world sees Singapore as a place where credit card fraud originate, then that would be detrimental to the reputation that our government has built up.
Comments ?
