Capital One to combat fraud with disposable credit card numbers
The bank will issue one-time virtual numbers for online shopping.
In an attempt to combat credit card fraud, Capital One will issue disposable numbers for customers to use while shopping online.
The bank will now allow its customers to pay with these virtual numbers instead of their real one every time they make an online purchase.
This gives customers a different credit card number for each different online retailer, but they are all tied to the same original card and account.
And it also means they don’t have to give their actual credit card number to any online merchants.
Capital One said having only one primary number can give thieves a single point of access for fraud.
This new system also puts an end to the inconvenience of re-entering new card information to every online retailer used after a card is stolen.
It also reduces the hassle of calling the bank to cancel an account — consumers can now simply disable the card specific to that merchant.
And some consumers might feel more comfortable buying items from retailers they haven’t used before or otherwise might have avoided.
To get a virtual number, cardholders must visit their online profile on the Capital One website and use a tool called Virtual Numbers from Eno, named after Capital One’s virtual assistant Eno. The tool creates unique, virtual numbers for each retailer that’s linked to their Capital One credit card account. The service is currently only available on desktop but will work on Capital One’s mobile app in the future.
The amount of credit card fraud has more than doubled since the turn of the century and was projected to cost $8.6 billion last year. Learn more about all the different ways you can help safeguard your accounts from fraud in our guide to credit card security.
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