So, you're saying to yourself right about now, "How is this magical feat performed?" A variety of online payment services have sprung up to make virtual payment a reality (no pun intended).

If you need to pay someone or someone needs to pay you all you need to know is their e-mail address and which service they are using. If someone sends you money through a service you're not currently a member of, no problem. You simply register (which is most always free) and collect your hard earned cash.

Payments are made either by tapping into your offline bank account or using your credit card. Of course, once enough people start using this option, your electronic service account balance will enable you to pay your debts without tapping into your credit card or bank account. Converting your virtual money to real thing is as simple as requesting a check for an amount not exceeding what's in your account, and a "real" check will show up at your "real" house in less than a week.

Let's take a look at some of more popular services and how they work.

PAYPAL: https://secure.paypal.x.com/refer/pal=merle%40mcpromotions.com

PayPal, a part of online bank X.com, has got to be largest online payment service today. They claim over 3 million customers to date. Free to register, but business accounts are charged 1.9% to receive funds.

Payments can be made using Mastercard, Visa or your offline bank account. They also pay a 5.00 referral bonus for every friend you get to sign up with them. At this time PayPal does not take International payments but does have plans to expand into that arena shortly.

eCOUNT: http://www.ecount.com

How to Protect Your Online Store from Internet Burglars, Part 4 Copyright 2000 Route 66 Cyber Café, Inc. by Lynne Schlumpf

Here are a couple of true stories for you:

1. A man in England ordered $27,000 worth of latest AMD K7 CPUs and motherboards. He gave his REAL address, his real phone number on order. Boy, was he surprised to get a phone call from United States asking him to verify order. He sounded really scared and mumbled something about someone playing a trick on him, that no- he did not order any computer stuff on Internet. Duh! American Express and Justice Department got to know that boy really well!

2. Someone in Thailand ordered about $3,000 worth of computer parts. The ship to address was his home in Thailand, and bill to was some poor guy in New Hampshire. After calling Mastercard services, we were able to identify card as stolen. The guy in New Hampshire was not aware that his credit card number had been "lifted". Mastercard promptly cancelled card. We emailed guy in Thailand and told him credit card number he was using was on "list" of stolen card numbers. He promptly sent an email back (from his free email service there) and cussed us out in his native language, saying: "What's wrong with a guy ordering something as a present?" Our response: "Ordering something as a present for yourself, with some guy's credit card number in New Hampshire?" Another Duh!

Here are some resources that will help: (if card number provided is International, you will be referred by these numbers:)

Visa and Mastercard Services: 800-347-5004 Discover Card Services: 800-347-2683 American Express: 800-528-2121

The US Justice Department would appreciate your reporting what you know about stolen credit card numbers to them: Their new website called Cybercrime was created to address growing incidents of crime on Internet. Visit them here: http://www.cybercrime.gov/

Internet Fraud Complaint Center

https://www.ifccfbi.gov/