World Wide Web

India's e-commerce is expected to rise to Rs 2,300 crore by 2006. But where are the laws to check abuse?

By Harsh Kabra

November 17, 2003

illustration by Jayachandran

Over 600 employees of an Indian company receive an e-mail from info@amazon.com offering a book discount. They swamp the link, only to realise that an employee has spoofed the address to glom money and card numbers.

A man pays for jewellery worth lakhs with a card. But the jeweller never gets money because the code on the card's magnetic strip has been rigged to get another computer, instead of the bank server, to authenticate the transaction.

Plastic money can buy you problems, and technologies can be ready accomplices. The hazard of credit card abuse stalks you in the virtual as well as the real world today. Gartner reports that over seven million Americans were victims of stolen credit card information last year. According to the American Banking Association, its members suffer identity fraud losses of around $1 billion and credit card companies absorb losses of around $1.5 billion every year. Identity thefts in the UK, reveals the UK Fraud Advisory Panel, cost victims nearly £#62.5 million and the UK economy £#1.3 billion.

Isn't India too at...

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