The financial group ING announced a partnership with NetLog, the Belgian social network website.
On a marketing point of view, this is a good action to attract young potential customers. ING (one of the top-3 bank in Belgium) will catch them on Netlog hoping that, later, they will switch to the real world by using real banking services with ING.
ING will provide virtual money (called “credits”) to all NetLog users. Classic operations will be available: receiving credits when performing special actions (like using a credit card, by SMS, etc) and buying online services with them. Of course, ING will have a virtual office on NetLog where financial operations will be performed.
But… What about the security? Big communities like NetLog (500K Belgian users according to the website) are potential targets for phishing attacks. The NetLog users database could also become a target. Fortunately, it seems that it won’t be possible to sell “credits” to receive money. But anyway, message to the future ING virtual money users: Take care!