Virtual Cards and One-Time Cards for Online Shopping
A virtual card gives you a separate card number for online shopping that you can freeze, limit or delete without touching your main card. How virtual and one-time cards reduce fraud.
Every time you type your card number into a website, you trust that site to keep it safe. Virtual cards reduce how much you have to trust. If a virtual number leaks, you delete it, and your main card keeps working.
How they help
- Separation: a leak affects only that number. See card-not-present fraud.
- Limits: set a spending cap for each virtual card.
- One-time numbers expire after a single purchase.
- Easy freezing in your app.
- Subscription control: one card per subscription makes cancelling easier.
How to use them
- Check your banking or payment app for "virtual card".
- Create one for online shopping, with a sensible limit.
- Use one-time cards for sites you do not fully trust, or better, avoid those sites. See checking a website.
- Delete cards you no longer use.
Virtual cards do not make fake shops safe. You can still lose the payment. They simply stop a leak spreading to your main card.
For more, see how to protect your money.
Frequently asked questions
What is a virtual card?
A card number created in your banking app, linked to your account but separate from your physical card. Many can be frozen, limited or deleted independently.
What is a one-time card?
A virtual card number that works for a single purchase and then expires, useful for sites you do not fully trust.
Do all banks offer virtual cards?
Not all. Check your banking app or ask your bank. Some mobile wallets and payment services also offer them.
Sources
- Online Shopping, US Federal Trade Commission
- Using Credit Cards and Disputing Charges, US Federal Trade Commission
- Comparing Credit, Charge, Secured Credit, Debit, or Prepaid Cards, US Federal Trade Commission
