I thought a line from the story linked to by Cheryl was interesting:
"Ask for identification, especially for expensive transactions made over the phone to verify the identity of the caller. This can be sent to you (the merchant) via fax, email, or text."
This reminds me of the idiocy of signing services who let notaries send a copy of a background check, WHICH IS IN THE POSSESSION OF THE NOTARY, to the signing service.
You can't trust a document that is in electronic form, or ever has been in electronic form, if it comes from a person you don't fully trust. The POSSIBLE exception is an electronic document that has been signed with a digital certificate and the document shows valid in the appropriate software, like Adobe Reader or Microsoft Word. |
