Posted on 12/28/2022 11:03:23 AM PST by ProtectOurFreedom
We do a lot of online purchasing from large merchants like Amazon to small independent merchants. We have about 20 auto-pays set up on our credit card.
Our credit card number gets stolen and we get fraudulent purchases on our card. This used to happen every 18 to 24 months, but it happened September 2022 and again December 2022 (this time Uber and DoorDash)! We watch our account closely and report fraud immediately, so we have never had to pay for the fraudulent purchases. But it is a huge pain to reset all the auto-pay accounts with the new credit card number. It takes me about four hours every time this happens.
I'm looking for ways to get off this merry-go-round. We do all the normal protective things -- don't let the physical card out of our possession, look for skimmers (chipped cards have helped here), check our machines for viruses (all clear -- just did scans), use complex passwords, never open suspicious mails or texts, don't click on links, check for identity theft, etc.
While looking for solutions, I came across "Virtual Credit Cards" and this looks promising. You have a single credit card number and you get a "virtual" number that links to your main card number. You use the virtual number for online purchases. You get a single statement with all your purchases aggregated from the virtual numbers. If fraud occurs, you turn off that virtual number (which is only good for one merchant); you do not have to cancel your main credit card.
I understand it works like this. Suppose your main cc number is "10." For online purchases, you get virtual "11" for Amazon, "12" for your utility company, "13" for your water company, "14" for your Walmart, "15" for the gym, "16" for Home Depot, etc. Those virtual numbers are only used for the online purchases at that one merchant. You get a single statement for the "10" account that aggregates all the purchases from all your virtual numbers.
QUESTION: Has anybody used Virtual Credit Card numbers? How has it worked for you? Did it stop credit card number theft? Did it make it easier to shut off one fraudulent merchant.
PS: I'm shocked at the poor quality of fraud detection by the cc companies. We had fraudulent charges for BMW parts from the other side of the country! We don't own a BMW, have never bought BMW parts, and live on the other side of the country.
I have experience with virtual credit.................😜
Virtually none here.
Consider yourself lucky, it gets expensive :)
No, but this sounds interesting. Report back if you do do that. Also, I don’t do autopay for my cc. What if you get overcharged? You know much trouble it is and how slow are to repay anything? I manually check anything that is not the same exact amount each month. Example, I never give utilities or satellite autopay. I pay manually. AND they always want me to bundle. Nope, not doing that. I’ve heard of people having a screw-up on their bill and they all point the finger at the other company they’re bundled with.
I have a Capitol One Venture-X that offers virtual cards.
The website plug-in works well. I have not had any issues, but should a vendor leak my information, it is fire walled to the one virtual number and would prevent the scenario you described.
A better question to ask would be why you are being hacked every 18 months.
Suggest you review your security practices.
No kidding. I had a BMW motorcycle. A nice hole into which I tossed money.
“Consider yourself lucky, it gets expensive :)”
Yep, the crooks bought a replacement radiator cap for $1,000!
The autopay is where your card is being stolen. The fewer databases it is in the more secure you are. With so many autopay accounts you are just throwing your card into the wind for many more to get it.
“What if you get overcharged?”
I’ve been amazed over the years at the very high accuracy rate on charges. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever been overcharged and that’s on tens of thousands of transactions since 1973.
I think all of our disputes have been related to fraudulent charges. I know I lost three physical cards in the 90s and early 2000s (due to my own negligence), but all of the subsequent fraudulent charges were reversed. The companies do an investigation, but that generally doesn’t take long.
I see the problem right there.
“Suggest you review your security practices.”
Believe me, we’ve checked them top to bottom and do so frequently. I HATE having to fix the mess each time it happens.
I mentioned some of my security steps in my original post. I just re-ran complete virus scans on our machines and they are both clean.
We never let the physical card out of our possession at restaurants or any other merchant. We don’t use public networks for any transactions.
The only thing I can think of is smaller merchants with less than stellar security practices. We do not have the merchant save our cc number for future purchases; we enter it for each current purchase. All it takes is one merchant losing the number and I have to do all the fixes all over again. Hence my interest in the virtual cc.
Thanks for the info on Capital One Venture-X. I’ll look into that.
Citibank’s web site regarding virtual cards is awful. It says “Virtual cards are available on select credit cards” but they never tell you which of their cards has that feature. What a dumb design. And there is no way to reach them by email, phone, or chat to ask the question.
“I see the problem right there.”
Please elaborate. I have no idea what you are saying.
Those are the fraud charges that showed up on our credit card. What gets me is those merchants know EXACTLY who was in the vehicles or had the food delivered. But you can’t get them to divulge any info about the crooks.
Super. Thanks. I’ll look into that. That’s exactly the service I’m looking for.
What’s a virtual credit card , something you pay for and never see ? LOL
My bank offers it as an extension on Chrome, with careful security monitoring by me - e.g., I use Secure VPN.
It works well. I can choose when that pseudo-generated credit card number can expire - if I want to use it a few times.
Safer than using my actual numbers.
I have enough trouble with the REAL ONES!....................
I see the problem right there.
I had the same thing happen recently with almost 15 Uber charges overnight. We have never had and never will have an Uber account.
I know exactly when the card number was stolen. It was the only time it was out of my wife's hand and 3 days before the Uber charges.
We moved from NJ to TN. When we lived in NJ I always got the gas for all of our cars. My card would never leave my posession. My wife went back to visit and since NJ is the only state in the country with no option for self-serve anywhere in the state she handed over her card to purchase gas for the trip back to TN. Three days later we had multiple Uber charges overnight.
I am also looking into privacy.com as someone mentioned earlier. I feel the same way about credit cards as I do valet parking. If I want you to have a credit card/car I will give you one. Otherwise, I'm not handing you my card or keys.
I use them with Citi and they work great.
When generating the number, you can set a $ limit and an expiration date for extra security.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.