Pam

[Ned]

Just tried to buy an air ticket online but the Bangkok Bank wanted my PAM as well as some other code ..vst? that I had to make up. I rang the bank but couldn't find anyone with good enough English to help me. I've used my credit card to rent a car in Australia etc but not to buy any items online.

Thanks

[beano2274]

maybe they mean the 3 digit number on the back of the card, I cannot remember what it is called

[lopburi3]

What is a virtual account number?

It's a substitute credit card number you can use in place of your real credit card number when shopping online. While purchases made with Virtual Account Numbers are charged to your actual card account and appear on your monthly statement, your real number is never visible and is never exposed to unauthorized viewing.

Perhaps Virtual Account Number? Citi seems to use them - not sure who else.

[Daveroc]

PAM : Personal assurance Message and VBV : Verified by visa. Additional security codes as discribed in the attached link

http://www.bangkokbank.com/BANGKOK%20BANK/PERSONAL%20BANKING/CREDIT%20CARD/CREDIT%20CARDS/BE%20SECURE/Pages/default.aspx

[Tropicalevo]

PAM : Personal assurance Message and VBV : Verified by visa. Additional security codes as discribed in the attached link

http://www.bangkokba...es/default.aspx

These are all a good idea - but they will not stop professional hackers.

Our credit card details were hacked and we use these 'safety devices' and others.

Yes - we have a firewall, anti virus, anti trojan, anti "whatever I can buy" software.

It seemed to me that the hackers were sitting on an airline site that we used recently. They got everything.

There is another angle - at least one airline here in Thailand allows all of its booking staff (and others?) to see personal information regarding a booking. (Including credit card details. They knew all of the details regarding the card used in the booking!)

If the people that you buy from do not secure their sites properly - you are bolluxxed. That is my personal view anyway.

Mind you - all airline staff are honest aren't they? So it cannot be that.

[aurelius]

Agree with you but...

It sounds to me like you were in the registration site trying to sign up for the Verified by Visa service. You put in a personal assurance message which later, when you shop, will be presented to you to confirm that the page you are entering your data into is indeed coming from the bank (rather than the merchant - because how could the merchant know your PAM?) - which goes some way to avoid the problems you are describing. Using this service gives you additional rights as a cardholder and may force the merchant or the merchant's bank to compensate you in the event that funds are taken from your account. Similarly, merchants using this service have fraud protection rights as well from cardholders who buy stuff and then dispute that they ever did.

The second code required that you mentioned applies if you are enrolling a debit card - that code must first be obtained from the call center (english Press2, then 7 for registration, and so on)

If a merchant is using the VbV service, when you click, the payment page is actually at the bank, not the merchant and therefore the cardnumber remains between you and the bank and is not shared back to the merchant (part of the number is xxx'd out). However, as you pointed out, not all merchants use this service - it tends to be more common in asia and europe, but the US banks don't use it.

SMS messages with One Time Passwords will be part of the service soon too,