Using PC's for internet banking in India (or Anywhere!)

kidsan

you could, i guess, 'hide' the password number (as it is with my bank) in a page of numbers...no?

kidsan

thanks for that hyderabadi...i will certainly look more into this option

markhyd

Seems some of the keylogging software logs screenshots too..

Hyderabadi

There are screen recorders too,.... that take movies of your desk top.

Then there is the old hidden camera trick, there was a huge scandal sometime back when a 'internet parlour' owner recorded high school / college kids making out in the curtained cubicle and made VCDs and blackmailed the poor kids.

What if he decides to record the computer screen?!

You can run, but you can't hide.

No safe place on earth!

capt_mahajan

A non techie speaks, further to Hyderabadi's post:

Article in todays paper about divorce cases in the US, and spouses (spice? ) being caught by online behaviour by their bitter halves.

One example.. a program which takes the same kind of movies of your desktop or takes a photograph every 15 seconds and emails it to your soon to be ex husband/wife.

The possibilities are endless.

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Hyderabadi

Capt., look at the positive side, I have a home network - my desk top pc, kids pc and my laptop all hook in to this - I get a daily email report of what applications / games were used (homework, please) what websites were visited along with links to pages visited, how long, etc.,.. helps me keep an eye on the kids online activity and block their access to the dark side of the www.

Nick-H

...

I think the biggest lesson of this thread is... be careful who you make out with in an internet cafe cubicle!

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Rama

I would like to point out that people have breathed, lived, and traveled very successfully for thousands of years without the use of Internet banking. Yes, it is possible to survive without Internet banking, especially in such a diverse and open country like India.

I would guess that most people use Internet banking to pay off their credit card bills. In which case, do not use credit cards overseas! Take one for a serious emergency and use the ATM to pay by cash for everything. This is very much possible in India and more than likely easier to do than at home.

Whatever the case may be, everyone going to India and reading IM will be old enough to remember a magical time where Internet banking did not exist. How did you survive then?

kidsan

the time before internet banking was known as the 'age of overdrafts' and it is an age that i really do not want to return to if i can avoid it.

That said, nor do i really want to share my banking details with all and sundry so it seems it is very much a case of 'you pays your money (literally!) and you takes your choice!'

Hyderabadi

Ramji, I have no clue!

shashank.aggarwal

I guess we should rename the thread and remove "in India" from it. This gives an impression that all these screen and key loggers, recorders etc are used in India only, whereas this is something very common across the globe and every precaution you have to take in India applies to everyplace else.

I can suggest usage of chain of Cyber Cafes "Sify Iway". They have a reliable system, wherein user has to create his/her own user ID to logon to the operating system and if user does'nt want to become a member then cafe host will use his ID for temporary session of user. The best part its completely safe, as once the session is closed the system deletes all temporary files, cookies, history etc on its own. It comes to login screen of Win 2k and that means that all network connections have also been closed. I am not sure if its 100% foolproof, but it definitely is better that any roadside browsing center.

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capt_mahajan

If that is true, then what I use in India, billjunction.com, is a good idea.

It receives your bills. You can set it to pay automatically (from a bank account, or go to that site and pay each time (they send you a mail). You can even pay by SMS
Only billers and payees approved by you get paid.

Bank accounts have to be entered and approved, and there is no direct interface online with the bank. It takes about two weeks to set up, as do the billers and payees.

In Hyderabad, have used this to pay phone, electricity, insurance premia, property taxes, credit card etc. for the last three or four years. Also available from many other cities.

Charges... I think I am paying approx 250 rupees annually, for maybe 30 bills? Not sure.

I always pay 'manually' after email notification.

Surely this kind of thing will be available in many countries?

Hyderabadi

Sorry to add some more scary stuff:

You are not safe if you use the ATM, too...

http://www.snopes.com/fraud/atm/atmcamera.asp

Nick-H

iWay was always my choice of internet cafe. The speed is good and the service is usually good too, although some of the hardware can be a bit shaky (eg chair, monitor, screen...).

I doubt that it is 100% safe. I recall being shown to a machine one day to discover that its previous user had tweaked it so that, on boot-up, it would do nothing but a porn slide show!

I think it is a very good point that this applies worldwide: the worst internet cafes I have used are cheap London ones.

As to surviving without it, sure one can survive without it. One can survive without trips to India!

Seriously, it depends how long you are here for. With a sufficient sum in your current a/c you can live off ATMs and never go near a PC for banking.

Its certainly not a daily need, unless you are really fussy about keeping money on deposit, earning interest, right up to the moment you need it. I never in my life counted pennies like that --- until it became my sole source of income!

Hyderabadi

Agree a 100%.