Preventing Identity Theft- not a Science Fiction Story

Online fraud and identity theft have sadly become a daily event, as online shopping become more popular because of its convenience. Hardly a day goes by where we do not hear of an individual whose life was destroyed or nearly destroyed because someone hacked into their personal information and made purchases on their behalf, leaving them to “pick up” the bill.

Here are some numbers-
2007 showed a huge increase in the amount of money lost to all cases of fraud with a staggering figure of $239.09 M. That is an increase from $198.44 m in 2006.
(According to the Internet Crime Complaint Center (I3C) that released in April its annual report of online misconduct).

In 2007 Identity fraud reached $45 billion in losses and affected 8.1 million American consumers.
(According to a research conducted Javelin Strategy & Research).

8 out of 10 Americans worry about Identity theft, and more than 34% know of an identity theft victim. 36% of the 77% respondents that have access to Internet services prefer to avoid Internet shopping. In addition the Internet was the most feared place for identity theft to occur, according to 45% of the respondents.
(According to a survey that was conducted Gfk Roper Public Affairs & Media).

Online consumers say the 2 factors that influence them the most are payment security and payment choice. Security and privacy are the two most important factors compelling consumers to evaluate and use online payment alternatives
(According to a study conducted by Jupiter research).

Of course this epidemic is worldwide as hackers reach far and wide across the globe.

In the UK, CNP (card not present fraud) was reported at a loss of 2990.5 million pounds in 2007, an increase of 37% compared to 2006. This was the figure on UK issued cards only so the number is higher if we include losses on non UK issued cards, and rose 25% in 2007 to 535.2 million pounds!
(According to the APACS, the UK payments association).

82% of European Internet users have little trust in personal data management over the Web, according to a Eurobarometer poll on data protection issued on the 17th of April, by the European Commission.

According to a study that was conducted in Australia, concern and awareness regarding online identity theft has definitely gone up with 75% of females and 51% of males stated their concerns when shopping online.
(According to the VeCommerce “Identity Verification Study” in April, that was conducted by callcenteres.net).

Apart from that we are forgetting the consumers that do not have access to credit cards at all. According to the Yankee Group, 40% of internet users like teenagers do not have credit cards.

Now imagine being able to purchase online without having to own a credit card, an e-wallet and without having to worry that someone might access your personal information!

eBIZ.mobility LTD has created a revolutionary online payment processing service for digital downloads, called OneTouch Online Purchasing™. The OneTouch Online Purchasing™ service enables consumers to purchase digital content (such as music, ring tones, games, video clips, wallpapers etc.), via their computer or their mobile handset, and charge their purchase directly to a billing account with any telecom service provider, bank, or ISP of their choice. Simply put, OneTouch allows your customers to make purchases without the need of a credit card, or even a PayPal account.

Using OneTouch to make an online purchase, no personal or financial information is transmitted to the merchant, or to OneTouch. We designed our payment system to eradicate the possibility of identity theft online. It's simple really: since we do not store any personal or financial information anywhere in our system there is nothing for criminals to steal.

You can read more at http://www.onetouchpurchasing.com , or at the corporate site http://www.ebizmobility.com .