Reserving accomodations - Credit Card #'s over email
 

Hello everyone,

I'm in the process of reserving hotels in Barcelona, Seville, Granada and Madrid.

I'm absolutely shocked that each and every single hotel I'm booking(two and three star) wants my to confirm my reservation by emailing my credit card number.

I have rarely run across a secure internet form in which to put my credit card number, so I have been calling in my credit card number.

But I'm just wondering, why the casual attitude towards emailing credit card numbers? Are we just hyper-vigilant in North America (I'm in Canada)?

If you do email your info, split it between two or three emails so that no one message has all the card processing details on it.

I email mine. I have never thought twice about it and will continue to do it....

Heak, most thefts seem to occur when they (A) break into the database or (B) somehow "copy" the magenetic strip.

So.... I just don't worry too much.

That said I use my USAA Mastercard a lot. This past weekend I was booking a train fare in France and it was rejected, I think because in trying to read French I put my first and last names backwards. Not 5 mintues after the "rejection" my phone rang. USAA wanted to make sure I knew someone was messing around with my credit card in France LOL! Made me feel pretty secure actually.

I always email my CC numbers and details divided into 2 separate emails as does RM67.

In the old days we sent faxes. Given the time difference (9 hours from here on the west coast), those faxes might have sat in the machines for hours, been picked up by the cleaning lady. That wasn't so safe after all.

I do it - but I split it into 2 or 3 different emails.

you can of course, split the cc number into different e-mails if it makes you feel more secure. But that does seem overkill to me. You credit card # is safer in an e-mail than it is w/ a waiter in a restaurant in your home town. And on top of that, you are protected from fraudulent use.

Hi G,

>I'm absolutely shocked that each and every single hotel I'm booking(two and three star) wants my to confirm my reservation by emailing my credit card number.

Have you ever given your CC to a waiter who walked away with it for several minutes? :)

((I))

I e-mail my credit card number virtually every time I make a hotel reservation which amounts to many times each year. It never occurred to me to break it up into two parts or to be nervous! What am I missing??

Just a cautionary note. A good friend of mine sent her cc # to her mother via email. Several days later, her company called her to ask about an unusual spike in online use of her credit card at adult sites, gambling, etc. They later determined (or maybe decided by default, in view of no alternative explanation) that someone must have had some way of reading the email. Of course, you run the same risk if you give your card over the phone -- the person who takes the card # may just go and do what those guys did to my friend.

since that incident, though, I have either used a fax or the phone.

goodgrace,
We have just completed booking hotels in same cities as you.
And, we've done exactly what RM67, Mimar, Grcxx3 did-- split the information between two or even three emails. Somehow this cautionary method seems safer??
Kathy

When i book hotels in Europe and they don't have secure sites, i usually fax them with my credit card details or just phone them. Maybe it's silly, but i'm afraid to give my credit card number through a simple email.

Starting looking and ran across this info on credit cards through email. The last sentence discusses splitting up the information.

http://www.abebooks.com/
home/ORB/CCSec.htm

don't you think that a thief would just read all the emails and put it together. I just sent my info in an email, now you guys have me spooked.

We run a Casa Rural, in Galicia Spain and when we ask for a CC number we always ask for it in three emails. Sometimes future guest like to send it in one go, But that is up to them.

>...sent her cc # to her mother via email. ,,,They later ...decided ...that someone must have had some way of reading the email.

Momma could have a virus in her computer.
............................
>i'm afraid to give my credit card number through a simple email.

Send the number in one eml and the exp date in another.
.................................
>don't you think that a thief would just read all the emails and put it together.

If the thief is at the receiving end of the emls (hotel clerk), it doesn't matter how you transmit the info. It will be stolen.

((I))