Booking Online At Internetcafe

[fryto]

When booking an e-ticket online at an internetcafe, is one only at risk at that specific internetcafe, or "around the internetworld" ? And secondly, clearing the history of an internetcafe PC doesn't provide much protection against serious fraudsters ?

[cdnvic]

Internet cafes, especially the cheap ones, are notorious for being full of spyware, keyloggers, and I won't use public computers in Thailand for internet banking or e-booking.

cv

[fryto]

Internet cafes, especially the cheap ones, are notorious for being full of spyware, keyloggers, and I won't use public computers in Thailand for internet banking or e-booking.

cv

Do you have any facts to back your statement ? Or do you rely on rumours ? Just curious.

[LindsayBKK]

Internet cafes, especially the cheap ones, are notorious for being full of spyware, keyloggers, and I won't use public computers in Thailand for internet banking or e-booking.

cv

Do you have any facts to back your statement ? Or do you rely on rumours ? Just curious.

I have been using internet banking and booking airline tickets online for 8 years and 2 of those in Thailand. I have not had any trouble, or maybe I'm just lucky. I delete temp internet files , clear websites viewed & delete cookies every time I finish. With Internet banking just remember to always log off, and change passwords often. Bank pays for lost money anyway, well mine does. Yes I think it's just rumours.

[fryto]

Internet cafes, especially the cheap ones, are notorious for being full of spyware, keyloggers, and I won't use public computers in Thailand for internet banking or e-booking.

cv

Do you have any facts to back your statement ? Or do you rely on rumours ? Just curious.

I have been using internet banking and booking airline tickets online for 8 years and 2 of those in Thailand. I have not had any trouble, or maybe I'm just lucky. I delete temp internet files , clear websites viewed & delete cookies every time I finish. With Internet banking just remember to always log off, and change passwords often. Bank pays for lost money anyway, well mine does. Yes I think it's just rumours.

Thanks for your replies.

[h90]

I have an internet shop and get all the time (this month less), orders from Nigeria, Indonesia, sometimes Vietnam, sometimes ex Sovjet countries, Venezuella (but funny enough not Thailand) with stohlen creditcard number. I don't know where they get them from but keyloggers on internet cafes would be possible and of course the order does not need to come from the same country as where you sit in the the internet cafe.....

My feeling is with the poor nigerian criminal who had to read all the crap I wrote for my girlfriend from internet cafes in the hope it contains value informations.....

Internet cafes, especially the cheap ones, are notorious for being full of spyware, keyloggers, and I won't use public computers in Thailand for internet banking or e-booking.

cv

[Crushdepth]

When booking an e-ticket online at an internetcafe, is one only at risk at that specific internetcafe, or "around the internetworld" ? And secondly, clearing the history of an internetcafe PC doesn't provide much protection against serious fraudsters ?

The internet cafe is the largest and most obvious risk, and unfortunately there is not really any reliable way to protect yourself from keyloggers on a public machine, even if you are dealing with a 'secure' site as keyloggers grab the information before it is encrypted.

Your transaction could be intercepted at any point between the PC and the server though. A couple of people in this forum have claimed their details were lifted while using a public hotspot in the Siam Discovery Centre. They also said the hotspot in question had a 'prior reputation' with the bank.

Keyloggers aside, certificates offer a fair bit of protection against proxies and dummy websites used to record or phish for passwords etc (another thing cafes are in a good position to set up). When logging onto a 'secure' site like a bank etc., make sure you double click on the padlock icon and look at the details of its certificate. If it isn't registered in the name of the company you are trying to do business with, or isn't issued by an authority you trust (or strangely, doesn't seem have a certificate at all), then don't use it. Having a 'secure connection' is meaningless unless you check *who* you are securely connected to!

Don't assume that your bank will cover you against internet fraud on your account either. I was thinking of setting up internet banking with Siam Commercial Bank a couple of years back, until I discovered that the fine print said that if your account got ripped off over the internet, its 100% your problem. (Perhaps it has changed now but I doubt it).

I wouldn't use a public terminal for anything I want to keep private (like bank passwords). Email accounts can commonly be used to retrieve passwords of other systems you might not like to share, so if you're travelling it is worth setting up a 'disposable' account that isn't connected to anything else (and a forwarding rule

Edited February 10, 2006 by Crushdepth

[fryto]

I have an internet shop and get all the time (this month less), orders from Nigeria, Indonesia, sometimes Vietnam, sometimes ex Sovjet countries, Venezuella (but funny enough not Thailand) with stohlen creditcard number.

How do you know the creditcard numbers were stolen ? And how difficult is it for a bonafide internetcafe to detect spyware ?

[Carmine6]

I have an internet shop and get all the time (this month less), orders from Nigeria, Indonesia, sometimes Vietnam, sometimes ex Sovjet countries, Venezuella (but funny enough not Thailand) with stohlen creditcard number.

How do you know the creditcard numbers were stolen ? And how difficult is it for a bonafide internetcafe to detect spyware ?

Seems that the question isn't how easy, but how common is it to check for spyware? I bet some never have. I've sparingly done banking and made reservations at internet shops, but am counting on the odds to not catch up with me. I'll sometimes change passwords before and after a trip just in case, but CC numbers aren't changeable, so more important to be careful with.

Sure the odds are long that you'll have problems, but victims never think it's going to happen to them.

[h90]

there are two ways of detection:

1) unusual orders example, every product the max you can select in the orderform to Nigeria (without asking for any discount) and with a very different name on card.

The usuall bs emails "I am an american businessman and I need to order for my shop in Nigeria" always the same text, different "businessman". Giving a Nigerian shipping adress but write as country France. So it will not detect as Nigerian fraud, but the postal system in France is smart enough to correct a wrong country and forward to the right adress in Nigeria.

Always the same guy in Venezuella ordering with the same name+adress but use every time a different creditcard...

And and and.......

2) one month later you get an letter from Visa that you have to give the money back because of the small letters in your contract that you have to give back in case of fraud. The real creditcardholder sits in USA, was never in his life in the Ukraine and did not place any order. Than you learn this was fraud......

I have an internet shop and get all the time (this month less), orders from Nigeria, Indonesia, sometimes Vietnam, sometimes ex Sovjet countries, Venezuella (but funny enough not Thailand) with stohlen creditcard number.

How do you know the creditcard numbers were stolen ? And how difficult is it for a bonafide internetcafe to detect spyware ?

[Crushdepth]

How do you know the creditcard numbers were stolen ? And how difficult is it for a bonafide internetcafe to detect spyware ?

Not that difficult, but many (most?) don't bother or don't care. A couple of times I've installed something like Spybot to clean up a machine before I use it and have been shocked at the amount of general crap it turns up.

Another nastier possibility is that the cafe staff (or a local user) may have installed something themselves to improve the economics of the cafe.

Credit card rip offs definitely do happen - someone got my number once and spent AUD$4,500 on it at a local shopping mall. I never found out how they got it (probably not through the internet). The vendors ended up paying for that one though - for being stupid enough to allow purchases without sight of the card or even a signature! (This happened in Australia by the way).

[h90]

Crush: on internet purchases you can not sign (therefore you normaly do not accept 4.5K Aussi$ orders).

But there are other things arround. I got an order, perfect, everything perfect, just one small detail, the bank which was printed on the creditcard did not exist.

So if a smart bad guy in Ukraine/Russia gets your number, he makes a new creditcard with it, but with his name and his signature. With hologram and if necessary also his picture on it.

A shop has no chance to detect that fraud.

How do you know the creditcard numbers were stolen ? And how difficult is it for a bonafide internetcafe to detect spyware ?

Not that difficult, but many (most?) don't bother or don't care. A couple of times I've installed something like Spybot to clean up a machine before I use it and have been shocked at the amount of general crap it turns up.

Another nastier possibility is that the cafe staff (or a local user) may have installed something themselves to improve the economics of the cafe.

Credit card rip offs definitely do happen - someone got my number once and spent AUD$4,500 on it at a local shopping mall. I never found out how they got it (probably not through the internet). The vendors ended up paying for that one though - for being stupid enough to allow purchases without sight of the card or even a signature! (This happened in Australia by the way).