For those wondering what a phishing site is, have a look at this site, so-called the: "eBay - Security Center". Users get there if they click the link in a mail that reads:
Dear customer,
We regret to inform you that your eBay account will be suspended due to the violation of our site policy below:
* Misrepresentation of Identity (User) - Representing yourself as another eBay user or registering using the identity of another.
Due to the suspension of this account, please be advised you are prohibited from using eBay in any way. This includes the registering of a new account.
Please note that this suspension does not relieve you of your agreed-upon obligation to pay any fees you may owe to eBay.
According to our site policy you will have to confirm that you are the real owner of the eBay account by completing the following form or else your account will be deleted.
http://suspension-ebay.qn.com/ Our apologies for this unconvenience.
Thank you for using eBay! http://www.ebay.com
Well, it almost worked, too bad that:
-I'm not an e-bay user....
-and my e-mail client is non-html.....
Let's see when this link has been brought off-line.
Sunday, February 20, 2005
Saturday, February 19, 2005
Payments and Settlements News - P+S-N
Payments and Settlements News - No. 15. contains:
-TARGET2 progress report
-European Parliament’s response to the European Commission’s second communication on clearing and settlement
-MasterCard launches SMS fraud alert system
-United Kingdom – Chip and PIN changeover sees mixed results
-Simpay announces first launch dates and countries for mobile payment services
-Philippine tax collectors try out prepaid m-commerce
-Phone shell for contactless payments
-Mobile gaming boom may force changes to mobile payments
-United States – Reporting system for phishing attempts
Articles, speeches and reports
-Ireland – Financial Stability Report published by the Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland in 2004
-United Kingdom – Bank of England publishes its first annual Payment Systems Oversight Report
-ECB Working Paper No. 427, “Interlinking securities settlement systems: a strategic commitment?”
-Beyond EMV: next-generation fraud in Europe
-Bank of Finland Discussion Paper 30/2004, “Central counterparty clearing: constructing a framework for evaluation of risks and benefits”
-Bank of Finland Discussion Paper 27/2004, “Less cash on the counter – Forecasting Finnish payment preferences”
-Bank of Finland Discussion Paper 25/2004, “Multi-homing in the market for payment media: evidence from young Finnish consumers”
-Thailand – Working Paper 2004-01, “The use of cash, cheque and electronic payment services in Thailand: changes and challenges for efficiency enhancement”
-TARGET2 progress report
-European Parliament’s response to the European Commission’s second communication on clearing and settlement
-MasterCard launches SMS fraud alert system
-United Kingdom – Chip and PIN changeover sees mixed results
-Simpay announces first launch dates and countries for mobile payment services
-Philippine tax collectors try out prepaid m-commerce
-Phone shell for contactless payments
-Mobile gaming boom may force changes to mobile payments
-United States – Reporting system for phishing attempts
Articles, speeches and reports
-Ireland – Financial Stability Report published by the Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland in 2004
-United Kingdom – Bank of England publishes its first annual Payment Systems Oversight Report
-ECB Working Paper No. 427, “Interlinking securities settlement systems: a strategic commitment?”
-Beyond EMV: next-generation fraud in Europe
-Bank of Finland Discussion Paper 30/2004, “Central counterparty clearing: constructing a framework for evaluation of risks and benefits”
-Bank of Finland Discussion Paper 27/2004, “Less cash on the counter – Forecasting Finnish payment preferences”
-Bank of Finland Discussion Paper 25/2004, “Multi-homing in the market for payment media: evidence from young Finnish consumers”
-Thailand – Working Paper 2004-01, “The use of cash, cheque and electronic payment services in Thailand: changes and challenges for efficiency enhancement”
Thursday, February 17, 2005
CSC to provide card processing technology to Sinsys
Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) is to provide bespoke IT applications and services, based on its Cams II technology, to financial firms signing up to Sinsys.
See: http://www.finextra.com/fullstory.asp?id=13246
See: http://www.finextra.com/fullstory.asp?id=13246
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
Strange discussions
Viviane Reding http://europa.eu.int/comm/internal_market/bank/docs/e-money/guidance_en.pdf
* Following the extensive consultation process that the Commission has undertaken, it is appropriate that the Commission services draw some conclusions and make these public. However, it is not intended to provide a binding interpretation of the treatment of mobile phone operators.
* The BAC concluded in December 2003 that e-money is now being issued under some circumstances by mobile phone operators to their pre-paid customers when those customers purchase some third party services and pay for them using their pre-paid store of value.
* Although there is a school of thought that suggests that no e-money is created when pre-paid customers use their store of value with mobile operators to purchase third party services, othercommentators agree that e-money is created when the monetary value stored on a pre-paid card is accepted as payment by a third party merchant in line with Article 1.3(b)(iii) of the Directive. The Commission services support this view
* The Commission services therefore suggest that when Member State authorities conduct an analysis of whether a mobile operator or other ‘hybrid’ institution is engaged in the issuance of e-money, they consider the form of direct payment relationship between a mobile customer and a third party vendor. This payment relationship may be established when either: a) there is a direct transfer of e-value (as far as the Commission services understand, this may be technically feasible for mobile handsets); orb) the mobile operator acts as a facilitator (or intermediary) in the payment mechanism in such a way that customer and merchant would also have a direct debtor-creditor relationship.
* Following the extensive consultation process that the Commission has undertaken, it is appropriate that the Commission services draw some conclusions and make these public. However, it is not intended to provide a binding interpretation of the treatment of mobile phone operators.
* The BAC concluded in December 2003 that e-money is now being issued under some circumstances by mobile phone operators to their pre-paid customers when those customers purchase some third party services and pay for them using their pre-paid store of value.
* Although there is a school of thought that suggests that no e-money is created when pre-paid customers use their store of value with mobile operators to purchase third party services, othercommentators agree that e-money is created when the monetary value stored on a pre-paid card is accepted as payment by a third party merchant in line with Article 1.3(b)(iii) of the Directive. The Commission services support this view
* The Commission services therefore suggest that when Member State authorities conduct an analysis of whether a mobile operator or other ‘hybrid’ institution is engaged in the issuance of e-money, they consider the form of direct payment relationship between a mobile customer and a third party vendor. This payment relationship may be established when either: a) there is a direct transfer of e-value (as far as the Commission services understand, this may be technically feasible for mobile handsets); orb) the mobile operator acts as a facilitator (or intermediary) in the payment mechanism in such a way that customer and merchant would also have a direct debtor-creditor relationship.
Monday, February 14, 2005
Chip and Pin cards winning acceptance
See: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=397806&in_page_id=2
Chip and Pin cards came into force on 1 January and require shoppers to type in their personal number rather than just writing their signature. According to Retail Decisions only 34% of users had had all their cards replaced with chip and Pin.
Initial fears that retailers would refuse to accept non-chip and Pin cards from shoppers have proved misguided. Some visually-impaired customers have told This is Money of problems they’ve experienced in getting chip and signature cards. But, for the most part, the banks say the experience for disabled customers has been positive.
Chip and Pin cards came into force on 1 January and require shoppers to type in their personal number rather than just writing their signature. According to Retail Decisions only 34% of users had had all their cards replaced with chip and Pin.
Initial fears that retailers would refuse to accept non-chip and Pin cards from shoppers have proved misguided. Some visually-impaired customers have told This is Money of problems they’ve experienced in getting chip and signature cards. But, for the most part, the banks say the experience for disabled customers has been positive.
Monday, February 07, 2005
Secoin -- another e-money club stopped
Secoin has a notification on its home-page explaining that the on-line payment service has been discontinued and that all e-money holders have been reimbursed.
Saturday, February 05, 2005
Friday, February 04, 2005
Tuesday, February 01, 2005
Monday, January 31, 2005
Saturday, January 22, 2005
Non-legal statement of the EU on the treatment of mobile operators under the E-money Directive
The European Commission Services has published a feedback paper on the comments received and a guidance note regarding it's consultation on the application of the E-Money Directive to mobile operators:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/internal_market/bank/e-money/index_en.htm#suivi
http://europa.eu.int/comm/internal_market/bank/e-money/index_en.htm#suivi
Wednesday, December 29, 2004
Ministry of finance and central bank warn for the 'world-euro'
This press release (in Dutch) is a warning to the public to not try to buy so called World Euro's, issued by the European Union, as avertised last friday. The advertisement claimed that for 10 euro people could buy world-euro coins. 5 Euro would be given to charity, and the other 5 would be converted to world-euro's, to be used as regular cash.
A couple of days later, it now turns out that the one page ad was a free assignment to an advertisement agency. They were asked by the Volkskrant (a morning newspaper) to attract attention of the public for an issue that really should be on the European agenda. And they came up with the idea of the World-euro (and really started believing in it...). But as a result of all the compliance fuss, the real story behind this advertisement was disclosed prematurely and the website of the world-euro was adapted to comply with bank supervision law.
Well, that's 10 points for the ad-agency, I would say.
Or perhaps eleven?
A couple of days later, it now turns out that the one page ad was a free assignment to an advertisement agency. They were asked by the Volkskrant (a morning newspaper) to attract attention of the public for an issue that really should be on the European agenda. And they came up with the idea of the World-euro (and really started believing in it...). But as a result of all the compliance fuss, the real story behind this advertisement was disclosed prematurely and the website of the world-euro was adapted to comply with bank supervision law.
Well, that's 10 points for the ad-agency, I would say.
Or perhaps eleven?
Monday, December 27, 2004
Interpay, Chess and LogicaCMG cooperate to deliver Ideal-platform
Planet Multimedia reports that Interpay, Chess and LogicaCMG have signed a cooperation agreement to deliver platforms and services related to the Ideal-payment standard.
Sunday, December 12, 2004
OV Chipkaart becomes reality: first launch this monday
Automatisering Gids report that tomorrow, the first public transport contactless chipcard will be distributed to customers of the ferry service Vlissingen-Breskens. It is the first pilot group to be followed by the whole of Netherlands later.
Last week, I noticed that the Rotterdam underground is also preparing for the contactless chipcard. There is a confusing mix of new and old machines. The new entry doors are installed but we are still able to walk alongside of these towards the regular ticket validating machines.
Anyhow, as also our National Railways will be migrating, next year will definitely be the OV-chip year...
Last week, I noticed that the Rotterdam underground is also preparing for the contactless chipcard. There is a confusing mix of new and old machines. The new entry doors are installed but we are still able to walk alongside of these towards the regular ticket validating machines.
Anyhow, as also our National Railways will be migrating, next year will definitely be the OV-chip year...
Saturday, December 04, 2004
Mobile Payments 2004: brief summary
Some highlights of an interesting conference in Amsterdam:
1. Consumers are willing to pay for mobile payments, especially for parking, public transport and road pricing.
2. RTL Netherlands receives about 60 million premium sms-es per year; their demand to better payment mechanisms focuses mainly on squeezing the current operator marging of 20-40%.
3. Netsize estimates the EU market for mobile services at 23 billion euro and the Dutch market at 1 billion euro.
4. Mobile operators still are the opinion that pre-paid purses with eurovalue in them, from which third parties are being paid, have nothing to do with e-money, money and need not be regulated. The representatives of those operators that effectively operate the most use mobile payment channel, downplay the importance of their payment channels, while not disclosing any data to back this up.
5. Banks intend to expand the internet payment mechanism Ideal for use on mobile channels as well. But first concentrate on the Internet part
6. Simpay will go live in second quarter of 2005; merchants accepting simpay will be faced with 30% fee to be paid as a merchant service charge.
1. Consumers are willing to pay for mobile payments, especially for parking, public transport and road pricing.
2. RTL Netherlands receives about 60 million premium sms-es per year; their demand to better payment mechanisms focuses mainly on squeezing the current operator marging of 20-40%.
3. Netsize estimates the EU market for mobile services at 23 billion euro and the Dutch market at 1 billion euro.
4. Mobile operators still are the opinion that pre-paid purses with eurovalue in them, from which third parties are being paid, have nothing to do with e-money, money and need not be regulated. The representatives of those operators that effectively operate the most use mobile payment channel, downplay the importance of their payment channels, while not disclosing any data to back this up.
5. Banks intend to expand the internet payment mechanism Ideal for use on mobile channels as well. But first concentrate on the Internet part
6. Simpay will go live in second quarter of 2005; merchants accepting simpay will be faced with 30% fee to be paid as a merchant service charge.
Monday, November 29, 2004
Brr... order confirmation spam
It's quite annoying. Spam that has the form of order confirmation. But given my consumer rights I have no need to worry. It's a pain though. And the obvious mislink leads to: http://onestepgo.com/
Dear Customer,
Thank you for your order. Your credit card has charged for amount $560.00.
Charges for the transaction will appear on your credit card statement under the name INTEGRAL LLC.
To view transaction status and order details, point your browser to the following URL:
http://www.mybill.com/order=SD25xxx
Sincerely,
MyBill Team
Dear Customer,
Thank you for your order. Your credit card has charged for amount $560.00.
Charges for the transaction will appear on your credit card statement under the name INTEGRAL LLC.
To view transaction status and order details, point your browser to the following URL:
http://www.mybill.com/order=SD25xxx
Sincerely,
MyBill Team
Friday, November 19, 2004
IInternet: browsing not buying...?
Research by Dutch retailers organisation RND demonstrates that a huge group of consumers uses the Internet to look before they buy. Of the 8,7 million active Internet users, 93 % uses the web to be informed about prices/products. Of this group of 8.7 million, 39 % has actually bought something over the web.
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
Size matters...
Small countries can more quickly cooperate and produce new products. Therefore the Estonians attract Ian's attention with smart cards that work on a national level:
Surprise and Shock! Identity smart cards that work on a national level!.
Surprise and Shock! Identity smart cards that work on a national level!.
Saturday, November 13, 2004
Dutch Standard for Internet payments: Ideal
In September Rabobank, ABN AMRO and ING announced the development of a Dutch standard for internet payments. The standard protocol essentially routes the shopper from the site of the merchant to the shopper's internet-banking environment, where payment is made in the usual manner. After the payment the merchant gets a guarantee en the shopper is brought back to the merchant environment.
The standard will be available to merchants and consumers from mid 2005 onwards. The name of the standard: Ideal, was announced during an e-banking track of e-Netherlands conference on November 11. It is expected that other Dutch banks will also incorporate the standard for their customers.
Research by Multiscope showed that 87 % of the Dutch population find the standard a good idea; 60 % expect to immediately make use of it. Especially a bunch of those consumers that at times still fear the Internet (70%) expect to use the product.
The poll also outlined that the awareness of bank internet payment products was:
- ING's paypal like scheme Way2pay: 32 %
- Rabodirect betalen: 28 %
- ABN AMRO E-Wallet: 14 %
- Rabo Minitix: 3 %
- ING Tootz: 1 %
Of these current payment products, only Minitix will continue to be offered by Rabobank. Rabodirect betalen will become Ideal; the other schemes will be dismantled.
By the way, during the conference it was stated that the current level of Internet payments in the Netherlands is 10 million. This number allows for some further calculations and estimations as to the total number of internet-payments in the EU. But I will leave that to others.
The standard will be available to merchants and consumers from mid 2005 onwards. The name of the standard: Ideal, was announced during an e-banking track of e-Netherlands conference on November 11. It is expected that other Dutch banks will also incorporate the standard for their customers.
Research by Multiscope showed that 87 % of the Dutch population find the standard a good idea; 60 % expect to immediately make use of it. Especially a bunch of those consumers that at times still fear the Internet (70%) expect to use the product.
The poll also outlined that the awareness of bank internet payment products was:
- ING's paypal like scheme Way2pay: 32 %
- Rabodirect betalen: 28 %
- ABN AMRO E-Wallet: 14 %
- Rabo Minitix: 3 %
- ING Tootz: 1 %
Of these current payment products, only Minitix will continue to be offered by Rabobank. Rabodirect betalen will become Ideal; the other schemes will be dismantled.
By the way, during the conference it was stated that the current level of Internet payments in the Netherlands is 10 million. This number allows for some further calculations and estimations as to the total number of internet-payments in the EU. But I will leave that to others.
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