Should You Use a Virtual Credit Card Number?

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I use my Citi Virtual Account whenever I buy online. It is painless and gives me a lot of security. In one instance, I subscribed for one month to Al Jazeera to watch what was happening in Egypt. At the end of the month, there was no way to cancel my subscription. However, there was no way they could debit my account because I put a dollar limit on it.

Dennis of MN 4:19PM July 11, 2012

hey nice post :)

muskaan of IN 5:59AM December 01, 2011

who knows where their are card number and cvv and exire date VALID ?

raraXY of LA 6:12PM October 12, 2011

So:
As Robert Siciliano, a McAfee Consultant and identity theft expert, explains, ".... In a CNP transaction, it is not possible to examine a card's security features or signature."
HELLO!!! Did you not take accounting 101 to become a consultant or what? We call the ability to set the limit on virtual cards (VC) a "COMPENSATING CONTROL." Many merchants don't want to look at the card and will accept anything in the signature block such as "see Identification" which they don't bother with.
ADDITIONALLY - with BofAs "Shopsafe"regime by FIA CardServices, the VC will ONLY work for one vendor period. Theives can steal VC all they want but approval & payment will not be granted for a second purchase merchant.
SUMMARY - drive by journalism is a poor reflection of both the author and publisher.

michael of WA 2:47PM October 11, 2011

help me

joe mom of NE 9:50AM October 07, 2011

I always use a virtual credit card number when I shop online (which I do frequently). I have been doing this since 2002. I used to use American Express to shop online, for this reason, and now I use Citi.
No merchant has ever managed to override the virtual credit card's limit, manually or otherwise. I have been on the telephone with the merchant when they deliberately tried to override the limit to get a sale to go through. I ended up giving them a new virtual credit card number when their attempts failed.
Not once in 9 years have I experienced any type of fraud related to my use of virtual credit card numbers. However, my real credit card number has been stolen twice through database breaches at brick and mortar stores.
You're doing your readers a disservice by suggesting that virtual credit card numbers offer little in the way of security benefits for consumers.

Deliber of MA 4:46AM October 05, 2011

I have read on other sites that the virtual credit card amount limit can be overridden by the vendor. They just have to enter the information as a manual sale. This type of card is not only not beneficial to the consumer, it's not safe to use online.

LH of AZ 6:11PM October 03, 2011

When John Ulzheimer disdains the need for virtual credit card numbers by saying the consumer's risk is only $50 or less, he overlooks the potentially substantial hassles involved in clearing issues involved in credit fraud, including having to get a new card, changing standing accounts, etc. if your card is compromised.
Like Dworsky, I use a virtual credit card number when I am dealing with an unknown vendor over the Internet.

JonK of NY 9:46AM October 03, 2011