I was planning to BUY a Book and found it to be cheaper on SnapDeal and instantaneously jumped in to BUY the same. Registered for the first time and was almost ready to provide my Credit Card details thinking that a popular site like SnapDeal would have https [secured] connection carrying consumer credit card details.
However, I cross checked as always and couldn’t see the “Lock” icon on the browser nor the “https”. With so many browser upgrades I thought it could be hidden and right-clicked to view the page properties. It was only then my suspicion was confirmed that SnapDeal Credit Card Interface was on an unsecured Network. I am attaching a Screenshot of my bitter experience shopping at SnapDeal as shown below.
Most e-commerce merchants after finalizing the order directly take you to the payment processing page which is “secured” where users enter their card details for authentication. From the Screenshot above, it appears to us that since card details are collected by SnapDeal, they are potentially storing the same which they are not supposed to according to the RBI Guidelines. Only the Payment Processing company can store and has to ensure HIGH LEVEL of Safety for the repository holding Card Details.
So if you are Shopping on SnapDeal using your Credit / Debit Card, BEWARE your Credit / Debit Card details could be easily sniffed away by hackers sitting on the fence and used for fraudulent purchases. We have also contacted SnapDeal and let us see what they have got to respond. Meanwhile, if you have come across any other website which is unsecured for shopping, do comment here so that everyone else is educated about the same.
Update:
SnapDeal responded to us and clarified that they are a Secured Shopping Site. What they have done is they have used iframes in the payments page so it was impossible to know about the https layer without actually viewing the source. Attaching screenshot below.
From the above screenshot it is also evident that they are not storing credit card details as we had apprehended in the earlier part of this article.
Friends
Definitely there are security issues for the web site. People who are using their maser or visa credit cards will be exposed to serious risks. Don’t do any shopping with snapdeal with your master or Visa credit cards even though they are cheap which the customers may be inclined to buy leaving the security issues which are very important and if some thing happens the money can not be recovered. Beware friends and let us complain the same to RBI authorities.