Review on a local e-commerce site

I think many people like to have movies in the cinema. Of course I won’t be exempted from that also as I love movies very much especially during the time enjoying the show with boy friend in the cinema. With a local e-commerce website of Tanjung Golden Village (TGV) which known as http://www.tgv.com.my/, I think many people also familiar with this, this website really make more people feel much more convenient when they want to have a movie in the cinema.

This is a website which people can look for the movie they like and prefer to watch for so that they can enjoy the show with their lovers or friends during their free time. People can have an earlier booking for ticket so that the ticket won’t out of sold when they want to buy at the ticket counter. Nowadays, all people are busy working from day to night while the teenagers are busy studying all the days, they have no free time to queue up earlier at the counter to buy for the tickets. They now just need to surf the website of TGV cinema, then they can have a look for the venue, date and show time for the movie they want and to have a booking through the internet (E-ticketing). By the way, of cause they also can read for the synopsis for every movie that had shown in the cinema. These have saved a lot of people time and energy because every step are becoming easier and easier already.

There is a column in the website where the management of the TGV cinema prepares for the customer to fill in. Just by a easy click, customer can click in to fill in their feedback so that the company can know more about the customer satisfaction. On top of that, there is column of privacy policy. This privacy policy is prepared by the management department of the company to all the people who have movie in cinema. This privacy is all mention about the rules and policy which people need to follow when they go in to the cinema.

TaKE nOTE!! e-aucTion FRAUD!!!

Online auction sites are amongst the top destinations for e-business and e-commerce trading. There are more than 250 online auctions so far. The most well-established being: eBay, Yahoo, and Amazon auctions.

With respect to forms of online auction fraud, there are several activities which constitute fraudulent behaviour including:

• Non-delivery
• Misrepresentation
• Non-payment
• Triangulation
• Black-market goods
• Multiple bidding
• Shill bidding
• Shield bidding

Things to take note to prevent e-auction fraud when a consumer participating in an e-auction:

• Be aware of phishings. Verify that you are receiving emails from the correct source and that you are logging in at the correct website.
  

When making payment, prefer using your credit card over online transfer.

• DO NOT entertain emails received from outside of the auction website mentioning that the highest bidder has withdrawn and you are now entitled for a product.

• NEVER make a deal with a seller outside the auction. Although they sound lucrative, you are at a very high risk of being cheated.

• READ the auction website’s terms and conditions, buyer protection policy, refund policy before making a transaction.

• Use appropriate warranty and documentation with it. If not, make sure that you intend to purchase it without that protection.

• BE WARY of products that offer revolutionary results. In most cases, they are fraudulent claims.

• DO NOT respond to emails that ask for your personal information, such as your log in details or credit card details.

• READ the online auction website for feedback on the seller and a rating that they give to sellers and buyers. Most online auctions rate the sellers and buyers based on their transactions’ feedback.

• READ the product features and the model number that you intend to purchase. Verify these with what is being advertised by the seller.

• Avoid making a transaction if anything in the auction seems suspicious to you.

Links:

www.ebay.co.uk/

www.amazon.com/tag/online%20auction

E-Government in Malaysia: Its implementation so far and citizen's adoption strategies

E-government also known as e-gov, digital government, and online government refers to the use of internet as a medium to exchange information, providing services and transacting with citizens, business, and other arms of government. The primary models of delivery are Government-to-citizen (G2C), government-to-business (G2B), government-to-government (G2G), government to employees (G2E).

E-government is one of the seven MSC flagship lauch in Malaysia. Current application of e-government implemented in Malaysia included e-Filing, renewing road tax and driving license online, KWSP’s i-Akaun, E-Perolehan, employment opportunities and more. The goal of these application by the government is to improve efficiency, convenience, and better accessibility to public services.

For example, e-Perolehan is an internet procurement system to enable suppliers to sell their products or services on the internet. The full services are available in four types: Central Contract, Direct Purchase, Quotation and Tender. Through this e-services, suppliers can advertise their goods and services in a much cheaper and faster way and reach a much broader base of buyers.

Problems occurred by customers and citizen using the e-government application are as follows :

• Online behavior : big portions of citizens in Malaysia are still reluctant to transact through internet for example online banking and purchase online.
• Lack of internet knowledge : many people do not know how to transact using the online e-services.
• Lack of awareness : 60% of the public are not aware of the services that provided by the government. They still using the traditional method to pay for their bills or services.
• Lack of trust : people are not confidence in the e-government due to the possibilities of in breach of security, theft of personal information and error in transaction.

Below are the solutions suggested to solve the problems :

• Increase the awareness of e-government application by publishing and advertising so that everybody knows about the e-services provided by the government.
• Increase the level of security by constantly maintaining the server few times in a month.
• Provide more efficient user manual guide on how to use the e-government application by setting up help desk enquiries via email or call.
  

Links:

http://ecommerze.blogspot.com/2007/11/e-government-malaysia-is-now-ranked.html
http://www.security.org.my/index.php?/archives/E-Government,-are-we-really-ready-....-after-more-than-10-years.html

http://home.eperolehan.gov.my/bm/default.aspx

A review on a post on Legal from My E-Commerce blog

The post reviews is "UK to get tough with illegal downloader". Downloading pirate software is against the law but to ban someone from having Internet access may not be a good idea.


First of all, in order to enforce this, ISPs have to spend huge amounts on new technologies. After the estimated 6 million people have been caught and banned from using the net the prices rise once again resulting from the loss of customers.

Besides that, it would also impact their business in other ways. Many ISPs currently market their more-expensive internet accounts to file-sharers on the basis of 'unlimited' monthly usage. If illegal file-sharing is to be stopped by these methods, then home users may only require cheap low-use internet accounts. Moreover, if the ISP makes a false accusation and pulls the connection of an innocent person, the ISP will eventually bear the legal costs.

Furthermore, people may choose to live without the product but not to buy the hardcopy. Therefore, the entertainment industries still going to lose their revenue if it being implemented.

Link : http://ecommerze.blogspot.com/search/label/Legal

Corporate Blogging : A new marketing communication tool for companies

A Corporate blog is published and used by an organization to reach its organizational goals. The corporate blog helps the organizations

• A tool that helps the organization fulfill a business goal


• A useful extension of the company image in the marketplace


• An opportunity to open a two-way channel between employees and customers

One of the examples of the corporate blog is Dell. The implementation has made it easier for customers to know what they are getting, proposed changes for the Dell site, improve the outlet site.

Pros:

• Blogs have one publisher who controls what is published on the blog


• Comments from readers can be pre-screened and even blocked (i.e. not published) if they are deemed inappropriate


• Good blogs have a distinctive voice and personality


• That voice tends to make good reading and to invite a real "conversation" with reader


• A blog gathers steam, gains traction and can get better and richer over time


• Blog entries are easily searchable (by date and category/topic)


• Individual blog posts are findable on Google (each has its own unique URL)


• RSS (i.e. a Web feed) is a highly efficient way to read updates to a blog


• Blogs don't require registration and logging in (a stumbling block - or an irritant - for some users)


• Blogs can host other (compelling) forms of social media, including video clips and podcasts

Cons:

• Blogs can make company problems public


• Lose control your company's message


• Company to lose valuable customers - Misleading advertisement


• No confidentiality - A third party’s trade secrets may be accidentally disclosed, breaching a confidentiality agreement, which could be costly and could affect a company’s reputation
  

For further details :

http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~nicci/cons.html

http://www.andreakay.com/personal/art_5054.html

http://richardgiles.com/2004/10/28/corporate-blogging-my-talk-from-perth-blog-nite/

Mobile payment systems in Malaysia : Its potentials and consumers' adoption strategies

What is Mobile Payment System??
It is a point of sale payment made through a mobile device.

What is Mobile Money(MMWallet)…??
It is an example of mobile payment system in Malaysia. Mobile Money is a PIN-based Mobile Payment Solution designed by Mobile Money International Sdn Bhd to address the limitations and bottlenecks created by cash, cheques and credit cards. It unlocks the power of the mobile phone to make payments, allowing registered users to pay for goods and services at anytime, anywhere using only a mobile phone coupled with a 6-digit security PIN (Personal Identification Number) via SMS (Short Messaging Service). This gives the freedom to shoppers to buy products online and pay the merchant using his/her mobile phone without being physically present at the store.

Potentials…

• Sell to Anyone, Anywhere at Any time - The merchant can now sell to people across town, across the country and take payment around the clock, which is not possible with current payment systems. Customers will only need to enter their mobile phone during checkout from merchant e-commerce website.
• No Minimum Monthly Transaction, No Rental Fee, No Merchant Account Required - Release yourself from the pressure of hitting the minimum monthly transaction amount to waive the rental fee, which typically runs at RM150 or more per month.
• Safe and Secure - With Mobile Money, merchants do not have to be concern of cash or cheques or credit card handling problems or fraud.
• Low Signup Fees - Only RM100 for Retailers or RM300 for Corporate, which chargeable after the first 10 transactions. This is hard to beat by any standard!
• Get Paid Super Fast - Super fast settlement in T+2 Days. Compared to other payments systems, Mobile Money guarantees that merchants are paid in 2 working days.

Ways to encourage customer in adoption of mobile payment system…
Usually, people always need to go to the specific destination to clear all their bill payment. But how if they nit to clear different bills at different places? It may be will our 1 whole morning to run from here to there to finish all our transaction. But then now by having the mobile payment system, people can forget the traditional way to clear up all the bills payment. Either busy or free adults can just by pressing some keys to do the mobile banking or payment. It is so convenient to all the users especially in nowadays fast going market.

What is Electronic currency? its advantages and disadvantages??

With each passing day, new developments in electronic currency are emerging. As a result, novel buzzwords such as smartcards, online banking and electronic currency are being used to discuss money.

Now, less than a hundred years after the first bank note was issued, technological progress has undoubtedly created a new direction in the means of payment. The Internet and E-commerce have become an increasingly commercial area, where daily payments are rendered for goods, information and services. As a result, electronic payments are becoming the central part to online business between customer and seller. Traditional applications of rendering payment include credit cards, private label credit/debit cards and charge cards.

Advantages of Electronic Currency Payment Systems

Confidentiality
Privacy Current electronic currency systems vary in their effects on privacy from total anonymity, in which personally identifiable records are not created (blinded coins), to audited systems that collect and store every aspect of each transaction. One of the most attractive features of electronic currency is that, unlike real cash, it is anonymous. That is, when a electronic currency amount is sent from a customer to a merchant, there is no way to obtain information about the customer.

Security

As previously mentioned, the security of electronic currency is provided by the use of encryption. Some experts are weary about the security of online transactions. However, the use of RSA cryptography makes it almost impossible to break the code of a digital signature. Additionally, the enacted digital signature statutes require a certification authority to use a trustworthy system. Therefore, even though there is speculation about the security of the Internet, electronic currency consumers are probably more secure in their transactions than the more traditional ways of doing business.

Disadvantages of Electronic Currency Payment

Fraud

A major disadvantage to electronic currency is fraud. If a consumer somehow misplaces his private key and a perpetrator uses it to withdraw funds, the bank would never know and the consumer would be liable. Additionally, if the security code is broken and the message is intercepted, the hacker will be able to perpetrate fraud on the recipient of the message.

Peer-to-peer double spending

Double spending of digital coins is another potential disadvantage of electronic currency. However, this is only a potential drawback if the consumer chooses a peer-to-peer transaction. In all other transactions in the electronic currency system, the bank is able to check the serial number of each coin in a transaction against its database of spent coins, and if the coin has been spent, the transaction will be denied.

Review on the post – "1st Dell Physical store in Malaysia!"

Dell is probably famous for purchasing online via its website and trough telephone. This is due to its marketing strategies to cut price and lower its cost by using direct sales model. But a couple of years ago, Dell Inc has slowly switched from click-and-mortar to brick-and-mortar e-commerce. Especially in Europe and US, many direct sales stores has been establish to have more face to face interactions with customers.
Last year in Malaysia, the first Dell Direct Store was open in Midvalley Megamall, one of the busiest shopping mall in Kuala Lumpur. I have visited the store located there soon after its opening. Located in the IT corner of Midvalley, the store location is around the center hall and easily noticeable after you walk into the IT section. The Dell store may not be spacious but they offer the display of latest notebooks and computer gadgets.
The physical store provides a better interface for customers to purchase computers and gadgets since there are Dell sales person to assist them in the purchasing. Besides, customers can try on the notebooks and computers before they decide to buy the products. That is why the founder of Dell, Michael Dell has changed the company’s direction from selling directly to its customer online to be the company that has more its own channel and known as the third party vendor.

More Dell store will be set up soon in Malaysia. if Dell is looking for strategic location, Plaza Low Yat will be the best place for a Dell store. As Plaza Low Yat is the most popular IT center in the town, many people will go there to look for computers and the latest IT stuff.

Refer to link :

http://ecommerze.blogspot.com/search/label/e-Tailing

The application of pre-paid cash card for consumers

Pre-paid cash card is a rechargeable stored value smart card used to transfer electronic payment in online or offline. It is a very convenient smart card which is widely and commonly used by everyone to settle payment in ease. The concept of ‘touch and go’ with the pre-paid cash card has made our lifestyle easier especially for those with busy and hectic lifestyle.

In Hong Kong, there is the application of a pre-paid cash card called the Octopus card. This Octopus card can be used in virtually all kinds of public transports in Hong Kong since 90% of the daily journeys of Hong Kong citizens are on public transport, making it the highest in the world! Commonly used public transport includes trains, buses, trams, ferries and minibuses. Besides it also used for the payment at convenient stores, supermarkets, fast food restaurant, on street parking meters, car parks and other point-of-sale applications such as service station and vending machines. The examples of shops that accept the card are PARKnSHOP, Wellcome, Watsons, 7-Eleven, Starbucks, McDonald and CIrcle K.

According to Octopus Card Limited, operator of the Octopus card, there are over 17 million of Octopus cards now in circulating, which the numbers are more than twice the population of Hong Kong. This cards are used by 95 percent of the population of Hong Kong aged 16 to 65, generating over 10 million daily transactions worth a total of about HK$29 billion (US$3.7 billion) a year. Mainly there are 2 types of Octopus cards, the on-loan card and the payment for airport transport. In specific, there are 6 categories of on-loan card offered by the company:

Type: Child (for children between the age of 3 to 11)

Type: Students (For students attending secondary schools and universities, discontinued in 2005 and replaced by Personalised Octopus Card)

Type: Adult (The standard version of the Octopus card)

Type: Elder (eligible varies between different public transport companies)

Type: Personalised (The rainbow-coloured Personalised card is eligible for students to apply with pictures and names)

Besides, in MTR stations, enquiry machines can be found where cardholders may place their Octopus cards on the machines and the machines will display the balances along with a history of last 10 usages. Monetary value can be added to the card through a number of ways. There are Add Value Machines, located at MTR stations, can be used to add more value to the cards. The machines accept cash, and selected machines are also able to accept Electronic Funds Transfer. Alternatively, value may be added with cash at authorised service providers such as PARKnSHOP, Wellcome, Watsons, 7-Eleven, Circle K, and Café de Coral, and also at customer service centres and ticketing offices at other transport stations.

The Octopus card has been internationally recognised, winning the Chairman's Award of the World Information Technology and Services Alliance's 2006 Global IT Excellence Award for being the world's leading complex automatic fare collection and contactless smartcard payment system, and for its innovative use of technologies. Therefore it is very efficient and convenient for customers who purchase this Octopus card, with one card, everyone can settle their payments without the traditional ways of coins and notes.

>>Octopus card reader at a McDonald's restaurant in Central

>> Octopus reader at MTR ticket
gate

<<Octopus card reader in bus

the official website for Octopus, 八达通 ：

http://www.octopuscards.com/corporate/en/index.jsp

Credit Card Debts: Causes and Prevention

Credit card debts is not a newly issue to us. We can easily access to credit cards nowadays. Advertisement, lead people to believe that they can live a lifestyle where money is no object and spending has no serious consequences. All those advertisements had shown only the good side such as you can bring happiness to your families but not showing what happen after that.

Causes:

• People may partial understood about credit card - lacking of knowledge of interest rates and information provided when they apply for credit cards also does not read by the applicant.
• Lack of financial and money management skills - People become more depending on credit card due to the convenient and yet encourage people to spend more or sometimes over the limit and buying things that not needed.
• Their attitudes towards debt - students feel optimistic about their potential future earnings and assume that they can easily settle their debts upon graduation.

Preventions:

• early education - set a way to manage your finances in order to avoid overspending on the credit card
• limit the plastic in your wallet - know the information about the credit card which is from your interest rate and fees to how to earn rewards and how long of a grace period you have.
• use it like cash, not a credit card
• pay the balance in full and on time is important to avoid accumulated debts

By taking a few steps of prevention today, tomorrow your finances will have a clean bill of health freeing you to live a life of opportunity rather than of difficulty.

A review on a post on Internet Security from My E-Commerce blog

'Blinkered by the convenience and allure of free Internet?'

When I was reading the post about the unauthorized tapping into home WIFI (wireless technology) dated Feb 15, somehow it caught my attention regarding this issue that actually happened in Singapore. The post didn’t have details on the issue so I have done a little bit of research on the net myself^^. And here are the details:

According to The Straits Times, 17 year-old polytechnic students, Garyl Tan Jia Luo is to be charged with piggybacking someone’s wireless internet connection using his own laptop. The court says if convicted, Tan faces up to 3 years in jail and fines of up to $10000 under Section 6(1)(a) of the Computer Misuse Act and Tan was released on $6,000 bail and is scheduled to appear at the Subordinate Courts.

Piggybacking on others wireless internet connection is a crime?? Wow, sorry for my ignorance that I do not know by simply connecting to the unsecured network will bear the possibility of paying such a high price. Honestly I have done that a couple of times before but now not anymore since I already have my own wireless connection at home. What’s the point of ‘stealing’ other people’s internet networks since I can enjoy a more secured and stable connection? (you get the point here ya, hehe). In the online world, there are special terms for tapping into unauthorized home WIFI, like 'wardriving' and 'Wi-Fi mooching'.

Well nowadays, piggybacking is a very common thing that happens around us and since just anyone can have access to the unsecured networks and hop online with just a few clicks, there is no false that everybody will assume that since it is there, it is okay to use it. To me, it is FOC and convenient, so it explains well why I did that before ><. Now that I know it is illegal to do so, surely I do not want to have policeman knocking on my door steps right away, do I?

Since that it is easy to tap into unauthorized home WIFI, the wrong doers may just do something illegal like defaming someone or downloading pirated MP3s, and they don't want the activities traced back to their own network. In fact, it is not easy for the WIFI owner to detect if there any moochers tapping into their network. But when someone is using your network, you can feel the connection speed will slow down. Therefore, software tools are available for download that can track who is using a network and what they are doing on it.

While the case is the first of its kind in Singapore, there have been at least two similar arrests and convictions in the United States. In some countries like Holland, WIFI network owners can even be held liable by the courts for crimes committed on their unprotected networks. In my opinion, WIFI owners should be smarter and cautious about their own networks. It is their responsibility to safeguard their WIFI networks to avoid serious offence. Garyl shouldn’t be so heavily punish since the owner itself didn’t secured its own network and it is not wrong if someone just access into it.

The simplest way of preventing moochers is to set up your own password on the internet connection.I wonder, is Malaysia enforcing the law yet? Since mooching is the virtual equivalent of trespassing. It should be enforced as soon as possible as cyber crime is gradually increasing in Malaysia as well.

If you are interested of how to secure your wireless network, please visit the following link:
http://www.dailywireless.com/features/secure-wireless-lan-021507/

How safe is our data?

In this modern era, the internet has been one of the easiest tool to share data. with online, all people will be able to find their solution, find their answer, find what they are looking for, and it's all just a click away by online. but still, the question is how safe is our data from being misused by the unauthorized party??

There are few types of security threat in the internet.



1.The most common internet threat is online fraud. Online fraud occurs when someone poses as a legitimate company to obtain a personal data and use the data to conduct transaction witout your consent.

2.The other internet date threat will be worms or other viruses which will create a new date or erase all the important data, duplicated itself, and attached itself into the information to be sent out to the other party by the internet.

3.Attack of Web application which are severe, easy to exploit is one of the threats which we are facing as well.

The number of websites hosting keylogging crimewaresystems rose by over 1,100, reaching 3,362, the second highest number recorded in the preceding 12 months.Websense Security Labs believes much of this increase isdue to attackersincreasing ability to co-opt sitesto spread crimeware using automated tools.

We as the user of the data and the internet should know how to protect ourself from the internet threat. there are a few precaution which we as internet user should do.

1.Protect your passwords
2.Install a personal firewall
3.Install, run, and keep anti-virus software updated
4.Keep your computer operating system up to date
5.Be wary of suspicious emails, phone calls, and mails.

In the end, We can't deny that internet threat has increasing dramatically over the time. but still we as a user can prevent all of the internet threat n keep our data safe with enough precaution and to be careful with the tools itself : the internet.

How to Safeguard Our Personal and Financial Data…..

Nowadays, many people are facing the problem on an attack on their personal, financial and privacy data. Shielding your private financial information with no risk of a breakdown may be impossible in these days. But it’s critical to understand how your privacy can be compromised and the consequences of such a breach. There is no 100% protection that can guarantee that you will never fall victims to some form of identity theft. But there are some steps that we can take to protect our personal and financial date from being collapsed.

First and foremost, you must remember to destroy all your privacy records and statements. For example, you should tear up or if you prefer to shred all your credit card statements, solicitations and any other documents that contain privacy financial statements. Besides that, we should secure our mail. We should empty our mailbox immediately, lock it or get a P.O. Box so that the criminals don’t have a chance to snatch credit card pitches. We should never mail any outgoing bill payment from our home because all this documents may get stolen from your mailbox and the payee’s name erased with solvents. On top of that, we should safeguard our Social Security number. Never carry our card with us or any other card that may have our number like a health insurance card. And also remember don’t put our number on the checks because it is the primary target for the identity thieves as it gives them access to our credit report and bank accounts.

Besides that, we can have the ways to safeguard our online financial assets. We can install a firewall. A firewall is a software program designed to allow good people in and keep bad people out. Most new computers come with firewalls integrated into their operating systems. Those who have a DSL or cable modem have an added layer of protection because these modems come with yet another firewall built in. If you have an older computer or use dial up, you may need to buy a firewall separately and install it yourself.

Installing and updating antispyware and antivirus programs can also preventing the financial data breakdown. Microsoft and numerous application vendors offer users regular updates to existing antispyware programs, so be on the lookout. As for antivirus protection, Symantec and Norton antivirus are popular choices. If you're looking to cut costs, Consumer Reports says Alwil Avast offers the best free virus protection available. We should also avoid from accessing financial information in public. Resist logging on to check your bank balance when working from a coffee shop that offers wireless access. These systems are convenient, but also unknown.

The application of 3rd party certification programme in Malaysia

The Application of 3rd party certification programme in Malaysia

The application of 3rd party certification programme, such as Secure Socket Layer (SSL), is standard for e-commerce transaction security. SSL is all about encryption. SSL encrypts data, like credit cards numbers (as well other personally identifiable information), which prevents the "bad guys" from stealing your information for malicious intent. The link between a web server and a web browser gives an opportunity to observe whether all data passed between the server and browser is private and safe. You know that you're on an SSL protected page when the address begins with "https" and there is a padlock icon at the bottom of the page.

SSL Certificates own the following benefits:

• Guarantee that the customers have a legal web site, and, moreover, those clients’ online businesses are the true certified businesses. Secure Sockets Layer Certificates encrypt data transferred between a customers’ browser
• Internet business in order to assist when it comes to preventing theft of valuable information including passwords, credit card numbers and account numbers.
• Help your business get better and more advanced.
  

www.verisign.com/ssl/ssl-information-center/how-ssl-security-works/index.htm

~Phishing~

Phishing isn't really new -- it's a type of scam that has been around for years and in fact predates computers. Malicious crackers did it over the phone for years and called it social engineering. What is new is its contemporary delivery vehicle -- spam and faked Web pages.

Phishing (sometimes called carding or brand spoofing) uses e-mail messages that purport to come from legitimate businesses that one might have dealings with -- banks such as Citibank; online organizations such as eBay and PayPal; Internet service providers such as AOL, MSN, Yahoo and EarthLink; online retailers such as Best Buy; and insurance agencies. The messages may look quite authentic, featuring corporate logos and formats similar to the ones used for legitimate messages.

Here's an example of how phishing works. On Nov. 17, 2003, many eBay Inc. customers received e-mail notifications that their accounts had been compromised and were being restricted. In the message was a hyperlink to what appeared to be an eBay Web page where they could re-register. The top of the page looked just like eBay's home page and incorporated all the eBay internal links. To re-register, the customers were told, they had to provide credit card data, ATM personal identification numbers, Social Security number, date of birth and their mother's maiden name. The problem was, eBay hadn't sent the original e-mail, and the Web page didn't belong to eBay -- it was a prime example of phishing.

• Be suspicious of any email with urgent requests for personal financial information
  
• Don't use the links in an email, instant message, or chat to get to any web page if you suspect the message might not be authentic or you don't know the sender or user's handle
  
• Avoid filling out forms in email messages that ask for personal financial information
  
• Always ensure that you're using a secure website when submitting credit card or other sensitive information via your Web browser
  
• Remember not all scam sites will try to show the "https://" and/or the security lock. Get in the habit of looking at the address line, too.

• Consider installing a Web browser tool bar to help protect you from known fraudulent websites. These toolbars match where you are going with lists of known phisher Web sites and will alert you.
  
• Regularly log into your online accounts ~don't leave it for as long as a month before you check each account
  
• Regularly check your bank, credit and debit card satements to ensure that all transactions are legitimate
  
• Ensure that your browser is up to date and security patches applied
  

How E-commerce can reduce cycle time, improve employees' empowerment and facilitate customer support

E-Commerce is a type of business model, or segment of a larger business model, that enables a firm or individual to conduct the business over an electronic network, usually is the internet. Electronic commerce operates in all four of the major market segments: business to business, business to consumer, consumer to consumer and consumer to business.

Cycle time is the total time from the beginning to the end of your process, as it is defined by you and your customer. Cycle time includes process time, during which a unit is acted upon to bring it closer to an output, and delay time, during which a unit of work is spent waiting to take the next action.

Improve employees’ empowerment:
By having e-commerce nowadays, employees are given the authority to act and make decision on their own is a strategy used by many organization as part of productivity improvement program. Management delegates the authority to individuals or team who can execute the work faster and within fewer days. While the empowered salespeople and customer service employees are given the authority to make customers happy and do it quickly, helping to increase customer loyalty too.

Facilitate customer support:
E-commerce can make the customers or users have more easier way to do their things, the activities are such as buying the product by online procedure, clear all the bill payments, check for the stock value, online shopping, and etc. Using e-commerce, it gives the customer an easier and convenient way which can save a lot of their time in order to purposely go out to do for all the activities that they want. They just need to have a computer or they can go to the cyber café, then everything can be settled easily already.

Example of e-commerce failure and its causes

Electronic commerce, commonly known as e-commerce, consists of the buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks. Nowadays, many companies will prefer to convert their business into e-commerce system. Online retailers are sometimes known as e-tailer and online retail is sometimes known as e-tail. Almost all big retailers have electronic commerce presence on the World Wide Web.

An Example of the E-commerce Failure…..
An example of the e-commerce failure is Toys R Us Company. This company is the leading retailers of toys, children's apparel and baby products. In order to provide the customers the products and services whenever and wherever they need, Toys R Us announced its plans to create an e-commerce subsidiary- ToysRus.com. In 1999, ToysRus.com has established as a premier online toy, video game and baby store outlet. Failing to handle the orders flushed into its website, the company totally lost track of thousands of orders or failed to deliver them on time. The Federal Trade Commission fined Toys R Us $350,000. Although the company had pumped millions of dollars into setting up its own online operation and distribution network for order fulfillment it had to announced 75% slump in profit 2000.

The causes of the e-commerce failure…
I think part of the problem is when the big company jump into the e-commerce system, they forget some common factors that will affect their company during the holidays. Shipping product takes man power and during the holiday season, it tends to slow the process down simply by the sheer volume of orders of the mail service industry receives in that short period of time. Frankly, not all the companies have the capitol to invest in such a large expansion, if they are going into the e-commerce industry, they can't afford not to put in that investment.

On top of that, the other causes of the e-commerce failure in the Toyrus company is the inability of the customer to chose products that are more effectively sold online than in the real world. Clothing shopping online requires the customer to guess at what they had looked like in the garments presented on a Web site. Attempts to sell automobiles online without the test drive have been woefully unsuccessful. And even provisions are a hard sell, the people still want to pick out their own product that look for and prefer, in spite of the inconvenience of having to go to out to do it themselves.

On the other hands, the failure cause is delivery the stock to customer is not on time. As we should know that, getting customer to the site is one thing, while delivering is another thing. Bricks and mortar retailers have no such problems. Failure to deliver the ordered stock on time to customers caused eToys (Toyrus Company) to give away hundreds of $US100 vouchers to displeased consumers.