A new study has found that there are now 22
million adults in the UK who manage their accounts online, more
than half of all regular
Internet users, despite
Internet banking not even existing a decade ago.
The report by the
Payments Council, on how the modern
UK consumer spends and receives their money, also found that
even more
shop online, with about two thirds of all adults, 32 million
people, using the web for home purchases. However, it also revealed
that people are now more confident about shopping online and
believe it is safer than ever before, which isn’t necessarily the
case.
With the number of
viruses doing the rounds growing and
online fraud on the rise, the report found that, although using
credit cards online does provide some additional
consumer protection on goods, payment methods such as
Paypal do not offer consumers the protection of the
Consumer Credit Act .
While an advantage of Paypal is that the retailer doesn't get
to know your card or bank details, thus making
ID fraud harder, it doesn’t place the responsibility for faulty
or damaged goods onto the
credit card provider and the supplier. This problem is the same
for buying through
Amazon Marketplace and other third-party retailers. The buyer
should still beware, especially on the Internet.