credit cardsWhen it comes to shopping online, you can never be too careful when it comes to security. There are criminals out there that would pay good money for your personal information and your bank/credit card account numbers. They use trojan-horse viruses and phishing scams in attempts to steal this personal information. Most of us know that we need good anti-virus, anti-spyware, and phishing-filter software to keep us safe online, but now there’s another tool we have in our arsenal to prevent our credit card information from being stolen.

PayPal and a number of banks are offering one-time-use virtual debit and credit card numbers to their customers. The idea is that if you want to use your credit card but don’t completely trust the website you are visiting, you can request a one-time use number and designate a maximum amount that can be charged to it. The retailer you’re dealing with can charge your card once, the money is then taken out of your account or added to the balance of your credit card, and then the card number is invalid. That way if the retailer happened to store that number for later date and it was stolen, the number wouldn’t do anyone any good.

Using one-time-use virtual account numbers is great when you’re shopping at smaller online retailers and websites you’ve never been to before. For example, I recently purchased a copy of Age of Empires II to play with a couple of friends who had the game from a small gaming website. The product was only $8.00, so I wasn’t terribly concerned about the reputation of the site. I probably wouldn’t care if I was out $8.00, but if the retailer was unscrupulous and got a hold of my credit card number that I would care about. I hopped on to PayPal’s website, got a virtual debit card number, paid for the product, and went on with my life knowing that I hadn’t opened myself to any sort of security risk.

Research the retailer you are purchasing from and make sure they are reputable before giving them any personal information. Also make sure that there is a “lock” icon in the corner of your browser when entering your credit card number. That will indicate the connection is secure and encrypted. Virtual account numbers are not a be-all and end-all of keeping you safe when shopping online, but it is another line of defense you have available and you should make use of them when it makes sense to do so.



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