Buying Calling Cards Online: how safe is the Safe Online Purchase?

Buying calling cards online is so much more convenient than buying them from the store, because:

1. You avoid getting all the 'extra' trash you don’t even need (the card for your wallet, the piece of plastic/cardboard that was used to hang it, plus a receipt.)
2. You save time: you don’t have to go to the store; just get the phone card you want sitting comfortably in your chair, at you PC.
3. You have all the time you need to compare various cards, and to make absolutely sure you’re buying the one that best suits your calling needs.

But "Is Safe Online Purchase really safe?"
In short, the answer to that question is that... it depends! It depends on you the user and it depends on whether the calling cards site that you are purchasing from uses proper security.

In real life (that is to say, not online), there are all sorts of potential risks where it comes to using plastic. For example, if you pay for dinner at your favorite restaurant, do you really know for sure that when the waiter disappears with your credit card, he/she won’t copy your information for later use?

If you give your telephone number out over the phone to purchase the latest gizmo offer that you saw on television, do you know that someone isn't listening to your conversation? Or do you know that the person on the other end of the line isn't writing down your info for their own use?

In both cases (just to name a couple) there is obvious risk; but in most cases, those risks are pretty minimal. The same thing can be said about buying calling cards on the Internet, only there are fewer people that have contact with your credit card information when you purchase online.

"How is security usually guaranteed on calling card sites?"
Proper encryption and secure servers are very common nowadays – on calling card sites and other sites that let you buy online - and as long as you make sure that there is security showing up in the bottom right side of your browser, you will be just fine.

To know if you are on a site where the owners are using encryption, look in the bottom right-hand corner of both Netscape and Internet Explorer browsers. If you see a closed padlock, the page is encrypted and you can safely fill in your credit card information. As for calling card sites, they usually take privacy and security very seriously; most of them have a hack-safe icon on the purchase page. That’s one extra guarantee that no third parties will have access to your personal and/or credit card information.

Personal measures to take into consideration
In general, the more your information is available, the more at risk you are likely to be. If you store your information on your computer but don't have a firewall, there is very little standing in the way of an unknown person to getting on your computer and finding that precious information.

Likewise, if your computer were to be stolen or used by an unknown party, they could make quick work out of your credit information stored on your computer.

Bottom line, it doesn't take long to pull out that credit card and type the numbers in. Let’s get serious now, you’ve saved enough time not having to go to the store to get your calling card. There’s really no need to save more time on filling in your credit card information. And remember: that little bit of extra time it takes you to enter the credit card info can save you tons of time later on trying to straighten out your personal identity and salvage your credit reputation.

This article was written by Alex Russell; he's constantly posting news about calling cards and phone cards.