IIs it safe to include credit card information in an e mail?
 

I have been emailing small places in Italy to make reservation; but, I hate to include my credit card info to confirm the reservations unless I know it is a secure site. Am I worrying unecessarily?

If it is a secure FORM reply it should be fine. If it is in an EMAIL, you should not include your important personal credit info.

Be sure to have correct fax number and name of person who will be receiving it.

This is the way most of the places I have been dealing with want to do it anyway.

I can not say if you are, maybe I am being totally reckless!
I have put my credit card info into many e-mails overr the past few yrs and never had a problem,
but then again, credit card and identity fraud is becoming more of a problem all the time.

If you are that uncomfortable, then see if you can fax thatinfo.

My experience has been exactly the same as nanb's - I've done it many, many times and never had a problem - but I worry about it a bit every time. Fax, if possible, is a better way to take care of overseas reservations (but I suppose there you can worry about where and how secure the fax machine is on the other end!)

Hi Pawleys,

Have you ever given your CC to a waiter and have him take it away?

That is as dangerous as sending CC info in an email.

If you wish to be more secure, send the full info in two separate emails.

Of course, this doesn't help if the clerk at the hotel writes down the info and sells it to bad guys.

Do you apply for a copy of your credit report each year?

I agree with Ira about a waiter or someone taking away your card being more dangerous, or beyond that, simply the idea that stores and restaurants have all your credit card info after you charge something available to any of their employees who want to use it.

The experts may say never include your CC info in an email. I've done it probably at least 1000 times in the past 10 years. But like some of the others, maybe I'm wreckless. Besides, if someone does get the info, you're still protected. Sure, sure, it would be some inconvenience to straighten it out, but I just don't worry about it.

I don't like to include, but sometimes it's necessary (or at least much more convient). I'm also not sure it's much worse than sending a fax, which may sit around in public view for some time depending on the specific setup at the hotel. To make things more secure, I usually send it in "words" in the local language split over several lines, e.g.:

eins-zwei-drei-vier
funf-sechs-sieben-acht
etc.

I figure this will thwart all but the most sophisticated sniffers.

Paul

Hmmm. I didn't realize so many people put their cc in email.

I always thought most knew not to do so. But if Ira says he hasn't had a problem....:)

I like the 2 emails idea. Plus you are right, we are protected for finacial loss. However, not for identity theft. Although that is correct about the waiter....hmmm

I usually inquire about the price and availabity of hotel rooms in e-mails. Once a room is offered by a reply e-mail I confirm by telephoning and that's when I give my credit card number. The end result is, I guess, the same. You are giving your credit card info out.

Find out whether your credit-card bank offers virtual account numbers so you don't have to give your real one. Very useful.

Come to think of it, I'm pretty sure Amex does, at least I thought I heard that.


I'm going to check. I'll let you know.

Discover Card offers its members the ability to obtain a "one time use" credit number associated with your account. Once it's used, it won't work anymore. I've used this feature several times (different number each time, obviously) and it works great. If you have a Discover card, you can obtain it through their website - discovercard.com

(Perhaps MasterCard/Visa offer this as well, I don't know...)

Italy does not use Discover Card from what I have been told.

Although I did use Discover to pay through paypal my villa rental.

Good point, I have not used this feature to purchase overseas. However, you may still want to see if MasterCard or Visa offer the same.

I've posted the following before. At the end is the link where I copied it. It runs the breadth of "never do" to "done it hundreds of time."

"I've e-mailed my credit card number for a couple of years and like others have never had a problem. As a precaution when I'm sending my credit card number over e-mail, I regularly check my charges on-line for a few weeks to make sure nothing has happened.

Though it doesn't go through the SSL encryption, it's incredibly unlikely that anyone would have the resources to intercept the e-mail in transmission and be able to do anything with it. Especially considering the message is broken up into "packets" and the packets can route differently to be assembled at the destination e-mail provider. The main reason is the sheer volume of packets, literally billions every day.

When you read about credit card fraud on the internet it's always someone unknown sending you an e-mail asking for your personal information. Or a hacker has gotten into a company's database and stolen a big list of credit card numbers. You never read about a single intercepted e-mail being targeted for credit card crime.

You're much more likely to run into a dishonest clerk who steals the number at a hotel. That clerk can steal it off of a fax as easily as an e-mail. Besides you send the fax in the evening from the US, it falls on the floor in France in the middle of the night and the cleaning people can have your CC number too."

http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessa...p;tid=34466694

I have routinely e-mailed hotels about room availabilities, then I phone them to give the credit card number. I considered this a more secure way of doing business. But after reading some of these posts, I'm beginning to wonder what the difference really is.
The number could still be stolen or used illegally anytime you use the card. I might need to re-think my approach.

Pawleys,
I don't think that an e-mail is secure, but many hotels will not take the information over the phone. I don't know why, but they won't. I've used the e-mail forms that are on the websites, but not my personal e-mail. I will be looking for a hotel in future that I can book over the phone, giving my e-mail over the phone, but they seem more and more difficult to find.

Best,
Sandy

Ira,
You've brought up a good point... it probably is just as dangerous to give a waiter your credit card as to send it in an e-mail. I even know a lot of people who will just leave the bill, with credit card #, on the table. I don't do that... I wait to make sure it goes to our waiter, and somebody doesn't just pick it up.

Sandy

I just made a b&b reservation today and sent my cc # in the email. I did think twice about it but sent it after all. I keep a very close watch on my account, so I will know quickly if someone is using it. Unfortunately, it wouldn't be the first time I had to cancel an account...