Online spending is worth billions, whether it's shopping, entertainment, legal pornography or information subscriptions. Yet the fear factor is high. However, one financial services provider offers a safety solution, stopping crooks or others from defrauding your card, and it's easy to obtain at no cost.
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The Cahoot Webcard is an almost universally-accepted, secret weapon that disguises your actual debit/credit card number when shopping on the Net.
In a nutshell it constantly rotates the number, so when you pay for something you never use the same number twice, leaving your real card number unexposed on the web, so no one can try and duplicate your transaction.
The system is available for Cahoot's current account customers who use it when making internet purchases and, as described below, getting hold of the webcard, and using it for free, is easy-peasy.
Do I need a euphemism? Or are we grown up enough to discuss pornography?
This card is great for internet shopping, but let's be candid. It's also great for users of online pornography. It always seems absurd to me that we make something legal then pooh-pooh any discussion of how to do it legally and safely, leaving people running the risk of illegality and becoming crooks.
So let me be plain (although Cahoot isn't). If you pay for legal pornography online, and have been misled by a fraudulent site, this card should help prevent crooks stealing more of your cash, though thankfully it shouldn't stop the police tracing users of illegal porn.
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Existing Cahoot Current Account/Credit Card Customers
If you already have a Cahoot current account simply log in to your personal Cahoot homepage and download an application by following the on-screen directions.
Everyone Else
Don't worry, there's no big hassle here, you can simply decide only to use the account for the webcard facilities (which is automatically offered to you as soon as your account is set up):
Unlike most current accounts Cahoot doesn't require you to pay your salary in. Therefore you can simply open the account, bung some cash in to cover any web transactions, and then just use the debit card (webcard) for online transactions whilst keeping your existing current account and using that as normal.
Incidentally Cahoot's current account actually pays a reasonable rate of in-credit interest, so you won't lose out too much by holding cash there (read Best Bank Accounts for more details).
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Each time you shop on the Net using the webcard it generates a one-off transaction number, which is used in place of your real card details.
These numbers can only be used once before they expire. You personally set an upper limit for the transaction, meaning any given set of transaction numbers can only be used to spend a limited sum.
As for the shopping itself, when you come to pay, simply click the webcard icon on your computer and it will open up and do its thing, filling in the internet forms with the freshly generated details.
All websites which accept Cahoot's debit card - which is the vast, vast majority - will accept the webcard too.
How secure is it?
It seems a good route around many of the problems that lead to internet fraud – your true details are never exposed, and any fraud will be limited by the capped transaction amounts.
100% safety will never be reached, as fraudsters are always finding new ways to steal your dough. However, it does add a welcome extra layer of security.
Any drawbacks?
There are also some purchases for which the webcard is unsuitable – namely those where you will need to prove your identity by flashing your plastic, such as when booking cinema or airline tickets.
Plus it doesn't earn you cashback (which all debt-free MoneySavers should be going for), so you could use your cashback card (see Best Cashback Credit Cards article) for buying from major recognised internet retailers and Cahoot for the rest.
Also, if you have a dodgy credit score, then any new product application doesn't help (and Cahoot cherry picks customers anyway so it's likely you won't get it) so it's best avoided in that case (read Your Credit Rating article).
As well as keeping your payments secure with the Cahoot Webcard, these further precautions will help ensure when shopping online, you do it safely.
- Shop from well-known or recommended sites. Whenever using a site to make an online purchase, think whether you've heard of it previously. Searching the 'Shop But Don't Drop' forum on this site will give a good insight, Plus, if you found the site using a Shopbot (always do this, to get the cheapest price), then it's very likely to be legit.
- Check the legitimacy of websites.
Though never infallible, there are a few technical tips to help you weed the kosher sites from the chancers.
- Who owns it? Go to the Whois database, and search for the address of the site. That'll tell you who owns it, where it is registered and how long it's been running. If anything looks dodgy, steer clear.
- Where's it ranked? Take a look on traffic-counting site Alexa to see a site’s worldwide ranking - If it's in the top 100,000, it’s reasonably big.
- Who owns it? Go to the Whois database, and search for the address of the site. That'll tell you who owns it, where it is registered and how long it's been running. If anything looks dodgy, steer clear.
- Use a secure website. Look for a padlock, or unbroken key symbol on the site (it's often at the bottom right of your web browser); this means any transaction will be encrypted. Also check the webpage address begins with https:// (found in the address bar at the top of your internet browser); the ‘s’ stands for 'secure'.
- Find their contact details. Look around the site to find a contact address, phone number or email to use in case of problems with your order. On legit sites, there will usually be a link to these at either the very top or bottom of their webpage. Particularly check that a 'real' geographical address is listed, not just a PO Box.
- Check for returns and privacy policies. Most legitimate sites will have pages explaining their legal terms and conditions, privacy policy and what your rights are when it comes to returning goods.
- Buying on eBay? eBay is a fantastic shopping resource, even when it comes to new goods. Yet always make sure you read the item description thoroughly, fully check comments on the seller's feedback page, and know your statutory rights. For full details on all these, see Golden Rules Of eBay Shopping article.
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