Anti-fraud solutions to receive payment

[crislem]

Often times we all see people from "banned countries" who can't use a service or buy a product because of the high risk their country has. While the measure a lot of companies decided to take, the one of refusing customers from those countries, is logical and does make sense, what could an honest customer do to take his co-nationals' "sin" off his shoulders?

Do you see any solutions in the near future (or simply, future) ? It is a matter of trust after one point and what can it be done? A solution to this problem would be a big step forward in all industries, not only hosting.

[ldcdc]

Often times we all see people from "banned countries" who can't use a service or buy a product because of the high risk their country has. While the measure a lot of companies decided to take, the one of refusing customers from those countries, is logical and does make sense, what could an honest customer do to take his co-nationals' "sin" off his shoulders?

Do you see any solutions in the near future (or simply, future) ? It is a matter of trust after one point and what can it be done? A solution to this problem would be a big step forward in all industries, not only hosting.

One solution would be for the notion of country to disappear altogether. Globalisation might lead to that, but not within our lifetime.

Now seriously, the solution I see is for this, is the development of a true way of signing online, so that fraud would not happen unless someone would be "forging" your signature. Basically you would have to sign to validate every purchase.

[crislem]

Hmm... Yeah, if all computers would have some sort of pad and a pen to sign, and then to send that information to the company you're purchasing from, that problem would be solved. (that company would then contact the bank where the buyer has and account open and check with them to see if that signature is true or not).

I should start a company to produce those things. D'oh! I said it out loud.

[ldcdc]

Heh, that could work, but there is a problem proving it was you who signed. I see electronic signatures as some kind of data (something like a huge password) loaded on special devices issued by an authorised organization. There would also be some sort of proof of physical presence as well, like the signature would not be sent without the device getting your fingerprint. You'd put your finger in the device, and it would make various measurements, scans etc. The results would be sent over to a remote server along with the password.

The payment processor would receive all this data and send it over to the issuing company for sutomatic verification. Once established that everything's is ok (should take seconds), the payments processing company would go ahead and process the transaction.

Sounds complicated?

[crislem]

And I was almost ready with my business plan to start that company... You made me go back and start from scratch...

There is always plenty of room to make things very complicated. The buyer could also have to send a short video saying "Today, 7-nov-2005, I agree to buy 1 year subscription of <Make me smile> magazine and receive it by snail mail using DHL." That can replace the actual presence... somewhat.

But yeah, you are right, a plain signature wouldn't do it.

[ldcdc]

And I was almost ready with my business plan to start that company... You made me go back and start from scratch...

There is always plenty of room to make things very complicated. The buyer could also have to send a short video saying "Today, 7-nov-2005, I agree to buy 1 year subscription of <Make me smile> magazine and receive it by snail mail using DHL." That can replace the actual presence... somewhat.

But yeah, you are right, a plain signature wouldn't do it.

Well, you can still start the company, just change the specifics of the product.

Back to the main question, if a company decides not to take a customer, there is virtually nothing that the customer can do, aside from asking the company to make an exception in his/her case, and offer to provide any evidence necessary: ID copy, Card copy (most numbers blurred of course), order verification by phone, utilities bill copy etc., anything that would make them comfortable enough.