The credit card linked to your T-SuiteR account is due to expire

I received an email yesterday which was unexpected and perhaps a bit disturbing. The email is from Telstra and is advising me the credit card I use is expiring. My first thought was this may be the usual scam attempt.

The email was unexpected because I don’t have any services currently with Telstra that require a credit card, and the service I use is a prepaid 3G wireless hotspot, which has nothing to do with T-Suite. I pay as I go so I don’t expect the credit card details to be kept on the system after the transaction.

I find this disturbing because I did use the Microsoft’s Office 365 mid last year, a service provided by Telstra in Australia. I cancelled the service in September so I have no service with Telstra, but they have still retained my credit card details in their systems. Should Telstra servers be hacked I would have had no idea they were retaining my credit card details in their systems.

For Telstra this shows a flaw in their systems where they’re notifying me of an expiring credit card where there is no service being used, for a service which was cancelled over six months ago.

This also raises the question as to how many other companies are also storing credit card details after you cancel a service. With sites regularly being reported where credit cards are being compromised, including this week in the States, it is a concern that companies are storing credit card details after a service has been cancelled.

It is a good idea to minimise the number of companies you provide your credit details to where they will regularly use your credit card. In this day and age it is very difficult not to provide your card details to companies, but where there is a payment option where you are in control, it may be a good idea to use that payment option rather than giving another company control over your credit card.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 if you require computer support.
Servicing Templestowe, Doncaster, Eltham and the surrounding area.