Belgium Credit Card Holders Attacked at a German Website

The security for online credit card transactions, be it purchasing or online banking, has been a hot issue for the government of the USA. For some customers, the only fact of being unprotected from hackers stealing personal data online is a good enough reason to turn down the mere idea of making a credit card deal.

Let's admit it, the present-day business making is unthinkable without the Internet, so many customers take their credit card as the major tool to buy things online. And it is true not only to American credit cardholders but also to the majority in Belgium, as we have learnt from the news.

Belgium credit card market is evidently on the rise and though the country is not so economical giant as the UK or the USA, its credit and banking services are no less efficient.

A great number of Belgians make credit card deals with Visa and MasterCard daily and their purposes are most different - from paying for a cup of coffee at fast foods to booking event tickets online.

Right, the portion of online credit card deals and transactions in Belgium is increasing and it cannot but involve the problem of credit and personal information security, especially as some 200 Belgians are reported to have got their credit cards cracked on a German website.

Kartenhaus, a German website selling tickets for events, has made itself out as rather insecure a place for making financial transactions involving credit card numbers, billing addresses and whatever personal data required to make the transaction complete and valid.

Belgian credit card users were not the only victims but among the 66,000 clients of this German website who used credit cards to buy tickets from 26 October, 2006 to 30 September, 2007.

As soon as the online ticket seller Kartenhaus, the daughter company of the industry leader Ticketmaster, discovered the online security breach, it placed a message prompting its customers to examine their credit card monthly bills for queer charges.

As far as Belgian victims are concerned they are taken care of by the Bank Card Company managing Visa and MasterCard services in Belgium. As a precaution measure, the Bank card Company officials blocked the cards and no great damage has been detected so far.

The greater concern, however, is stirred up by another thing, namely, the criminals' methods to hack the website. The way the server was approached is still unknown and this has frighten most Belgians and other customers off the ticket selling company.

However, this online security breach is not the end of the story. The Belgian Bank Card Company reports about Russian criminals hacking into three Belgian online banking services and as a result of credit information leakage and identity theft, some 15 customers lost their money.

Belgians have long trusted their Visa and MasterCard products with their convenience of being accepted at 22 million locations worldwide and the security of transactions. Today their trust in the security seems to be shaken.

However, we should always remember that no matter where our credit card is issued and used - in the USA, UK or Belgium - Internet banking services fraud and other Internet-related crimes will always stay as long as there is something to hack and clean out.

They got their credit card in Belgium but had it stolen on a German website - a bright example, isn't it?

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