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Anybody Have Experience with Virtual Credit Cards?
FreeRepublic | December 28, 2022 | ProtectOurFreedom

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.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: card; credit; virtual
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To: ProtectOurFreedom
I would never use Uber or DoorDash, and especially I wouldn't trust those fly-by-night strangers with my credit card.   You might as well give them your checking account number.

Think about it.   How many felons are employed by those outfits because they cannot find traditional employment?   How many felons seek jobs with those app-driven companies just to get access to credit cards they can filch?

I say, don't expose yourself to the riffraff.

21 posted on 12/28/2022 12:13:38 PM PST by higgmeister (In the Shadow of The Big Chicken!)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

I’ve used Discover here and overseas for decades with no problems. Recently I made an unusual purchase while on a trip and call a text from Discover asking me to verify it was really me. I get a report from them every month, here’s the last one:

Great news _______! We didn’t detect any new activity that would have triggered an alert.

No new accounts on your Experian® credit report
No new inquiries on your Experian® credit report
No Social Security number found on the thousands of Dark Web sites we monitor


22 posted on 12/28/2022 12:15:13 PM PST by SaxxonWoods (The only way to secure your own future is to create it yourself.)
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To: Sgt_Schultze
Privacy.com

Interesting. Thanks.

23 posted on 12/28/2022 12:22:44 PM PST by TChad (Progressives are in favor of removing healthy sex organs from children. Conservatives oppose this.)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom
Also I believe you should not have so many auto-pays on your cards.   The convenience isn't worth the exposure.   My wife only has one auto-pay on only one of our credit cards.   It's for our military affiliate insurance company that we trust.
24 posted on 12/28/2022 12:26:10 PM PST by higgmeister (In the Shadow of The Big Chicken!)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

Have you tried turning it back on?


25 posted on 12/28/2022 12:36:44 PM PST by Bayard
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

I use one credit card for all my auto pay transactions. I use a different credit card for online and in-person transactions. All my cards now have a chip and tap to pay and I haven’t had any fraud issues in years now.


26 posted on 12/28/2022 12:39:02 PM PST by AlaskaErik (There are three kinds of rats: Rats, Damned Rats, and DemocRats.)
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To: Openurmind
The autopay is where your card is being stolen.

My autopay credit card has never had any fraud issues. It's my primary card that has had all the fraud issues, but that all stopped when the current card came with a chip and tap to pay.

27 posted on 12/28/2022 12:41:26 PM PST by AlaskaErik (There are three kinds of rats: Rats, Damned Rats, and DemocRats.)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom
Please see SBF.

(I think he's visiting his folks in Bay Area, so he should be within 50 miles of there while he's "out on $250M bond", which cost him nothing.)

28 posted on 12/28/2022 12:45:48 PM PST by G Larry ( "woke" means 'stupid enough to fall for the promotion of every human weakness into a virtue')
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To: Red Badger

I use them Daily. My Credit Card number was lifted at a Sports Bar near SDSU in San Diego. They purchased over $400 worth of Pizza delivered to the University housing, Game devices and expensive shoes. All within minutes. All of my monthly charges had to be updated. One of the charges was from Microsoft for gaming items. I cancelled that and put a block on it. Well they have a deal with VISA and about 3 weeks later they were able to charge my card again. This happened 4 times. Capital One had to make some kind of official request to VISA to stop this and block all Microsoft charges in the future. So Virtual cards are saving me the aggravation of using credit cards on line.


29 posted on 12/28/2022 12:47:56 PM PST by greenolive
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

Capitol one has this. When you pay for something online, they give you a number that is only good for that one purchase. I don’t know if it would work on a reoccurring payment. I would think not.


30 posted on 12/28/2022 12:47:56 PM PST by smokingfrog ( sleep with one eye open (<o> --- )
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

can you pm me your CC number ?

I have a few BMWs and really need some parts

Thanks


31 posted on 12/28/2022 12:53:51 PM PST by algore
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To: greenolive

I use Discover. They spot this kind of stuff immediately........................


32 posted on 12/28/2022 12:56:50 PM PST by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

Our AA airmile card is thru Barclays Bank. They have been right on every single fraud attempt for the last 25 years or so. I don’t know if they offer virtual cards...but that sounds interesting. They also have a great online card dashboard. You can get a free card or an annual fee card (better airmiles). At least, that’s the way it used to be.


33 posted on 12/28/2022 1:00:01 PM PST by moovova ("The NEXT election is the most important election of our lifetimes!“ LOL...)
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To: algore
I have a few BMWs and really need some parts

The first time I had fraud on my card years ago was $650 of BMW motorcycle parts.

34 posted on 12/28/2022 1:03:52 PM PST by alephnull (Islam is not a religion of peace. It is a cult of death.)
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To: butlerweave

You sign up for it and it’s posted directly to the Dark Web.


35 posted on 12/28/2022 1:04:23 PM PST by moovova ("The NEXT election is the most important election of our lifetimes!“ LOL...)
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To: NY.SS-Bar9
What's your experience on acceptance of your Capitol One Venture-X card? Is it accepted everywhere?

It took a lot of digging, but I found that the "CapitalOne Venture One" card has no annual fee and provides the virtual card feature.

I found this new article on CardRates.com that has the CapitalOne Venture card rated #1 for virtual cards: Best Virtual Credit Cards of 2022, December 23, 2020. It says "We rank Capital One on top because its Eno browser extension allows you to create a virtual number for any online merchant."

I called and talked to several people at CapitalOne asking which of their cards has the virtual card feature. I was told that they don't know the answer to that; you find out after you get your card! I was pre-approved for six of their cards and nowhere does the summary page say if that virtual card feature is offered on the card! This seems to be an obscure feature that the card companies are not telling the world much about. You have to learn about it on your own and really dig in to find a card that has it.

I also found out that Chase doesn't offer virtual cards, but the Visa company does through the "Click to Pay" service that was introduced in 2019.

36 posted on 12/28/2022 1:05:12 PM PST by ProtectOurFreedom (If you're not part of the solution, you're just scumming up the bottom of the beaker)
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To: alephnull

That’s great you identified the one gas station where the fraud happened. Did you contact the station owner?

Oregon also does not allow you to pump your own gas. You can give the card to the attendant and he will put it into the gas pump. Or you can get out of the car and do it yourself.

My wife says we got 20 fraudulent Uber charges spread across about 10 days. Why in the world are the fraud detection systems so bad that they cannot spot that? I use Uber maybe once or twice a year.


37 posted on 12/28/2022 1:09:30 PM PST by ProtectOurFreedom (If you're not part of the solution, you're just scumming up the bottom of the beaker)
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To: alephnull

I just thought how negligent Uber is in this:

Say I’m Fred and cc number 1234567890. My unique account and unique cc number are tied together.

Crook Bob steals my cc number and pays for an Uber ride. Shouldn’t the Uber system say “You can’t use that cc number, Crook Bob. It doesn’t belong to you.”?

For that large number of crooked Uber charges to happen so quickly, the crooks must be selling the cc number to a number broker.

About 30 years ago, the clerk at the Empire State Building gift shop did not return my card. Within an hour, there were dozens of overseas phone calls charged to the card. The crook sold the number and the buyer had lots of people ready to get “free” calls.


38 posted on 12/28/2022 1:16:15 PM PST by ProtectOurFreedom (If you're not part of the solution, you're just scumming up the bottom of the beaker)
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To: DarrellZero

Thanks. Good to hear your experience.

I just got a CapitalOne Venture One card. Now I’ll start using those virtual numbers on my auto-pay accounts and other online merchants.


39 posted on 12/28/2022 1:17:49 PM PST by ProtectOurFreedom (If you're not part of the solution, you're just scumming up the bottom of the beaker)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

Virtual credit cards are useless for chopping a line of coke.


40 posted on 12/28/2022 1:20:01 PM PST by humblegunner
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