Just how bad is online fraud?: "Online fraud really represents two problems: the likelihood that an online merchant will be cheated by a thief using a stolen credit card; and the likelihood that a consumer’s private information might be stolen." Hooey! A worse problem than either of these—and probably lumped into the former category—is the consumers who fraud merchants by using their own card and than claiming to the credit card company that they never did so, forcing illegitimate refunds via the merchant's bank. The credit card company rules are set up to totally favor buyers over sellers, and lots of people who realize this have been ripping off mail order (and now Internet) companies for years, giving the companies very little recourse. And if you're a half-way small business and you get too many of these charge-backs, you can have your merchant account cancelled with nary a notice, putting your livelihood in serious jeopardy.