Giving card details over email - easy for fraud? Advice

invisibility

Hi,

I'm sorry if I've posted this in the wrong place!

I'm looking for some advice regarding a payment I need to make abroad. I owe a hospital in America £100 from a holiday last summer. I was sent the bill, and a website to pay on, but it turns out I can't use this website as I don't have a valid zip code.

I e-mailed them about it and they told me I can send my card details over e-mail or phone in order to pay. This is the usual card number/three digit number off back/expiry combo.

I know that all this information would allow someone to make online/phone purchases. It has made me worry about doing it.

Do you think this will be okay? Am I right in saying phone would be preferable to e-mail? I don't like the idea of an e-mail hanging around with my card details on it.

thomas20

I wouldn't give details like that over email its not secure. I would think calling would be the better option although could the hospital not let you use their Zip code for the purposes of processing the payment?

pheonix254

Phone would be preferable to email, in my view, as it is less easily intercepted, unless you want to look at encryption such as PGP (which will need the hospital to also know what they're doing- I suspect the phone is far easier), but I wouldn't send card details in plaintext in an email unless I had no other option.

Of course, the security for "cardholder not present" depends entirely on the card CVV (3 digits on the back) which is pretty pathetic security- but that is the system we have, and it is reasonably routine to give these details out over the phone when making payments. Just keep an eye on your statements and if there is anything you don't recognise, ring the bank without delay.

P.S. Using the hospital zip code will only lead to problems - it's usually part of the card verification check and will probably lead to the transaction being blocked.

grumbler

invisibility wrote: »

....they told me I can send my card details over e-mail or phone in order to pay....

I know that all this information would allow someone to make online/phone purchases. It has made me worry about doing it....

Card payments over a phone is a common place. Have you never paid over a phone before?

invisibility

thomas20 wrote: »

I wouldn't give details like that over email its not secure. I would think calling would be the better option although could the hospital not let you use their Zip code for the purposes of processing the payment?

They changed my registered post code to a random zip code so that I could log in to online payment, only to tell me that even though I've logged in, it only accepts cards registered in the US. So I'm guessing if they could do something about that at the moment, then they would have done.

pheonix254 wrote: »

Phone would be preferable to email, in my view, as it is less easily intercepted, unless you want to look at encryption such as PGP (which will need the hospital to also know what they're doing- I suspect the phone is far easier), but I wouldn't send card details in plaintext in an email unless I had no other option.

Of course, the security for "cardholder not present" depends entirely on the card CVV (3 digits on the back) which is pretty pathetic security- but that is the system we have, and it is reasonably routine to give these details out over the phone when making payments. Just keep an eye on your statements and if there is anything you don't recognise, ring the bank without delay.

P.S. Using the hospital zip code will only lead to problems - it's usually part of the card verification check and will probably lead to the transaction being blocked.

Yes I'm thinking I will ring up if all else fails. I hope I wouldn't be on hold long though. I rang the hospital up once and it cost me £15 :mad:

I have just e-mailed them back asking if they have a bank account number so that I could do a bank transfer, as I'm not comfortable giving my details like that. Will just have to see what they say.

grumbler wrote: »

Card payments over a phone is a common place. Have you never paid over a phone before?

I haven't paid by phone before actually, but I know it is weird that it is fairly common yet I have a problem with it. I just think it seems too easy for fraud. You are giving someone all the details necessary to pay for things on your card. It worries me. My dad was a victim of fraud over the phone once so I guess that's stuck with me. But if all else fails I will ring them up.

Counter

On the occassions where I have had to enter a zip code as part of the verification process when using a UK credit card, I have always used 99999 with no issues. No guarantee that this will work for you here, but it does seem to be a standard zip code used by these systems to denote "non-US address".

invisibility

Counter wrote: »

On the occassions where I have had to enter a zip code as part of the verification process when using a UK credit card, I have always used 99999 with no issues. No guarantee that this will work for you here, but it does seem to be a standard zip code used by these systems to denote "non-US address".

Yes, 99999 has worked for me to log in to their payment system, but unfortunately not for the actual card payment. Thanks for the suggestion though!

d123

invisibility wrote: »

They changed my registered post code to a random zip code so that I could log in to online payment, only to tell me that even though I've logged in, it only accepts cards registered in the US. So I'm guessing if they could do something about that at the moment, then they would have done.


Yes I'm thinking I will ring up if all else fails. I hope I wouldn't be on hold long though. I rang the hospital up once and it cost me £15 :mad:

How long were you on the phone for? The call checker on this site lists the USA as 2.9p per minute, with other methods being available for the cost of an 0845 call.

http://callchecker.moneysavingexpert.com/intcallchecker/usa/bt/easy

Even on Virgin it's possible to call from 0.5p per minute.

http://callchecker.moneysavingexpert.com/intcallchecker/usa/virgin/easy

cse

I don't have a lot to add to the discussion, but I do want to know what medical procedure it was that only cost £100. Broken fingernail?

thebritishbloke

You could also use Skype or another VoIP program to call the USA for cheap.

grumbler

It's just 4p+1p/min with 1899/18185