I am from India and recently moved to France. In India while making any online transaction one need the information on the debit card and ATM pin number or need a password given by the bank exclusively for online transactions without which one cannot proceed further in payment.
I moved to France recently, took a bank account and they issued me a mastercard. I wanted to buy a book from Amazon France, found it and ordered it. The final step was to pay using mastercard and all I have to do is to type in the Name, card number, date of expiry and CVV. There was absolutely no secure internet gateway to the bank website asking PIN. This absolutely startled me due to the following concerns.
- If I lose the card and the person found it can easily make a transaction.
- The online merchants can fraudulently use my card information.
This was not a concern in India since I need a password which in most cases is not accessible in case of a loss of the card.
- Is it normal for online transactions?
- What if I lose the card? Does this mean someone who get it can constantly make purchases until I ask my bank to block the card?