Have you ever had your credit card information stolen? EMV chips may help protect you during in-person transactions, but they can’t keep you safe during online or phone purchases. Replacing a compromised credit card can be difficult and stressful, especially when you know your entire credit may be at risk. Though you can always freeze your credit after the fact, there’s something you can do now to help prevent identity theft.
Enter virtual credit cards. These are temporary, disposable digital credit cards designed for online or over-the-phone purchases. When you use a virtual card to make a purchase, the payment recipient can only access and store the information of that temporary card, not your actual credit card account number. This protects your account from exposure in the case of a data breach and adds an additional layer of security to your online transactions.
Most card issuers don’t directly offer the ability to generate virtual account numbers, or virtual credit cards, right from your account. But apps and browser extensions like Click To Pay, Masterpass by MasterCard, American Express Go and Capital One Eno all provide virtual card options for more secure purchases on many popular credit cards.
