Shoppers seeking online retail therapy, take heart.
The Federal Government says it's safe to use your credit card over the Internet. A new report by the National Office for the Information Economy says that consumers are less likely to get ripped off on the web than they are when using their cards in a shop or over the telephone. Launching the report yesterday, Communications and Information Technology Minister Richard Alston said that despite the generally high level of security in online trading, fear of fraud remained an impediment to its growth in Australia. The report, The Phantom Menace, is aimed at promoting the growth of Internet shopping. ACA spokesman Charles Britton said that using credit cards on the Internet was safer than in other places because of the encryption systems used by banks and credit card companies, and because of charge-back arrangements that put the risk of fraud on to the merchant or credit card company.