need help

[arianetwork]

hello,
i want to create new account in this site entropay.com . when my register level completed then this site want some details from me :

Identity Card /
Social Security Card /
Passport (showing photo) Credit/Debit card
(both sides)
block out middle 8 digits of
card number and the 3 digit
Card Security Code (CVV)
number on the back Recent bank statement
or a recent utility bill
(showing your name


can i trust this company or this site is fraudulent ?

[rainboy]

I dont think its fraudulent, the things they ask above are to protect them from fraudulent customers. But they ask an awfull lot from you though.

The website is allready known since 1999, it is actualy Ixaris Systems Ltd, which is indeed as they say certified by the UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) (and listed on the FSA's website as such).

[Vin DSL]

...can i trust this company or this site is fraudulent ?

Trust is earned, and I have no reason NOT to trust this company -- and I'm as paranoid as they come... ask anybody!

[Connie]

I have have never given my SS number to anyone on-line that I can remember. Doubt that I will for any reason.

What are you trying to do that requires SS number, passport information etc?

My big question would be how you found the site asking for the information? Was it from a e-mail, or the result of a search?

I'm probably a little more paranoid than Vin if that is possible.

[Spathiphyllum]

hello,
i want to create new account in this site entropay.com

What kind of account? User, affiliate, business? If they want all that as a user or affiliate, then I wouldn't provide all of it. ID#/SS# seems too intrusive to me. Is this entity domestic, or international, to you? If international you'd have to trust that institution even more since any legal recourse, should some problem arise, would require international law and restrictions. That's rather inconvenient and more difficult to handle.

Yes, I'm paranoid, too. Photocopies of bank cards with a picture ID and an associated 3rd-party confirmation of your status as a person would be reasonable. The personal government/taxing authority ID is too much unless this is a business endeavor where trust is absolute... and even then I'd look elsewhere for other payment handling services.

Is this business trustworthy? Probably. Would I personally do business with them considering their requirements and my residence? No. But that's just me.

[rainboy]

This company is giving out limited VISA cards to use online, so they must be a bank, now i don't know about other countries, but here in the Netherlands at any bank they ask you the same information. And i don't believe that would be different in the UK. nevertheless they ask a lot, its always a good thing to go and find out more about the company before signing on, i.e. just type the companies name in a search engine and see if anyone has a valid complain, if they are fraudulent and exist since 1999 you should find hundreds of complains.

Kindest regards,
Patrick

[Vin DSL]

Hey, you know what you know -- and I'll give that to you -- and that's basically mail, from what I've witnessed. You've probably got Jason shaking in his boots!

[Gwaihir]

Actually, I don't think a company issuing credit cards is necessarily a 'bank'.

I just spent a good while on the site of the company that issued mine ( www.myvisa.nl ) and most VISA cards in the Netherlands, but I couldn't quite figure it out. It's probably still quite regulated, under supervision of some governmental something, etc, but I for example don't think that money (positive balance) on the card is guaranteed by our National Bank in case of bankruptcy, as funds in a 'real' bank are over here (up to a max per person per bank).

[rainboy]

Gwaihir,

Credit cards in the Netherlands are in most cases its directly linked with your bank account and your bank is giving guarantee to visa europe that payments will be made. So in that way maybe visa is not a bank (as they dont work with cash transactions), but a financial institute (which i call for the ease of speaking a bank, but isnt really one) and thus under supervision of the government.

[Gwaihir]

Credit cards in the Netherlands are in most cases its directly linked with your bank account and your bank is giving guarantee to visa europe that payments will be made.

Ehm; NOPE. You might be confusing Master Cards and VISA Cards, I dunno. I can tell that for VISA cards what you say is just not true.

Nor do I see the relevance of your statement. So what if the bank pays up if I don't? That doesn't mean I get funds back if the credit card issuer goes belly up while I have a positive balance there.

[jason]

Generally speaking, in the US, if a company will be paying you (affiliate programs, employment, etc) then they are required to report any earnings you make to the Internal Revenue Service and/or your states' own taxation department. In order to do the reporting they require either your Social Security Number (SSN) if you are an individual or a Federal Tax ID number if the payments are made to a business entity.

Also in the US, since the post-9/11 Patriot Act took effect, any financial institution with which you open a new account is also required to collect certain identifying information, including your SSN or tax ID. Since Entropay is providing a financial service, I suspect this is reason for needing such info.

Other than those two specific cases, there are very few other reasons why a company needs to collect personal information, especially a SSN.

--Jason

[rainboy]

Ehm; NOPE. You might be confusing Master Cards and VISA Cards, I dunno. I can tell that for VISA cards what you say is just not true.

Anyway, strange i do have 2 VISA cards, both need to be connected to my bank account, i wonder how they collect your money from your card, you send them cash ?

The relevancy is that an financial institution should be written in, if they are fraudulent, they are probably not be written in at the official government agencies.

Like Jason says, its no difference here, these institutions need those information here aswell.

[vivixen]

This isn't wholly relevant to the OP, but I read through the thread and wanted to clear something up.

I work for a financial services company, so here's a watered down version of how it works.

What it comes down to, Gwaihir and rainboy (neither of whom is right or wrong), is who is issuing the credit card...and I don't mean VISA/Mastercard.

In the US, how it works is you can have virtually any company issue a credit card. (Think Capital One, WalMart, etc.) You pay off that bill like you would any other bill: check (or, in some rare cases, another credit card). Credit cards issued from banks will generally link your card to a bank account because THAT particular credit card might require that parameter.

That is, to be eligible to hold that card, you have to be a bank customer. Then you can choose to have that amount either billed to you like a normal bill or directly debited from a linked bank account.

For all credit cards, the credit card ISSUER (Capital One, WalMart) charges the credit card COMPANY (VISA, Mastercard) and keep a small commission for themselves (which they earn from using a certain credit card company). The bank reimburses VISA/Mastercard and the bills you pay go directly to VISA/Mastercard.

Some companies in the US issue credit cards independent of companies like VISA/Mastercard, such as Gap. Gap basically bills you for the clothes you buy while your credit card is essentially a record of the sale. Buy first, pay later. These guys have very little to do with the banks...the deal is between you and them. Their only association with the banks are as debtors.

In Europe and Asia (the latter being where I'm based), credit cards aren't that "free." Your mailboxes aren't spammed with countless credit card ads and very few companies offer their own credit cards. Credit cards come primarily from banks, and many banks will generally only issue credit cards to the people who can pay them... which translates into issuing them to people who have bank accounts.

Linking a credit card to a bank account is just for convenience purposes... or maybe that's one of the features of the card in question. I sincerely doubt that linking a bank account is a "policy" adopted by credit card companies in any country, seeing as how that would make it extremely hard for them to do business.

Very few people in Europe and Asia use credit cards as "spend now, pay later." They use them more as Americans use debit cards.

As a final note: banks don't issue credit cards. Credit card companies AFFILIATED with a bank issue credit cards.

[rainboy]

vivixen,

Thanks for the explanation.

Kindest regards,
Patrick

[jason]

Here in the US we have two basic types of "credit" cards. True credit cards are exactly that--when you are issued a card you are setting up a line of credit account with a certain bank. The you use the card to "buy now, pay later."

Debit cards are also very common now, too. About 10 or 15 years ago, banks started replacing their ATM cards (that only worked at ATM machines) with debit cards that have a MasterCard or Visa logo. The debit card allows you to pay for your purchases at stores just like you'd do with a standard credit card, but the money is deducted from your linked bank account right away.

You also sometimes see "secured" credit cards. These are basically for people with poor credit. When you apply for one of these, you have to make a cash deposit, which the issuing bank puts into a savings account for you. Your credit line is the balance of your savings account. The difference between these and debit cards is that with these you receive a bill each month that you must pay. If you pay up on time then the issuer reports your good credit to the credit bureaus so that you start building credit. If you don't pay they use the money in the savings account to cover your charges.

Most, if not all, of the true credit cards issued in the US are issued by banks (there are some companies that only issue credit cards, but they are still considered banks and are regulated as such). Many cards are branded with a store, airline, or oil company, but if you look at the fine print there is usually a bank's name listed on the card. The branded cards usually entitle you to special rewards based on your spending--gift cards for the store, frequent flyer miles, or free gas, for example.

The store cards, for places like Gap, or Sears, or whatnot, also also usually underwritten by a bank. There are some banks that specialize in providing credit for store cards, like GE Consumer Finance, a "banking" subsidiary of General Electric. Store cards used to be popular when normal credit cards were difficult to get. Now, it seems, they'll give anyone a credit card, so many of the stores that traditionally issued their own cards are moving toward branded major credit cards, as discussed before.