Getting All The Protection You Need From A Virtual Credit Card Number

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More and more people are finding the advantages of leaving their high-tech camera equipment at home when they hit the road for vacations. Instead, they are choosing to protect their cameras by leaving them at home and utilizing the single-use, disposable cameras that are so readily available today. In a similar way, a single-use credit card number can also protect your real credit card information and increase security and peace of mind for you.

With credit and debit card fraud and identity theft continually on the rise, both concerned consumers and the credit card companies are always looking for ways to allow people to enjoy the convenience of using their debit or credit card for the purchases they want to make both at local retailers and online, while safeguarding the credit card information and the personal information of the consumer. One of the innovative ways that this has been made possible is through the issuing of virtual credit card numbers, which are primarily designed to be used for online purchases.

A virtual credit card number can be used anytime you want to make a purchase online allowing you to have a successful credit card transaction without ever having to reveal the real credit card numbers that are found embossed on your credit card. In most cases, the virtual credit card can only be used at one website and if not for one purchase only, then it is limited to a very brief window of time when it is valid.

This kind of arrangement helps to protect your real credit card from any computer hackers that might crack into a credit card processing submission, in order to try to steal your credit card information. Even if a hacker manages to get the complete number along with the other information they need to complete a transaction, they will be foiled because the virtual card will no longer be valid.

Even if you feel that you have a very secure connection and are not worried about hackers being able to capture your data when you submit an order online, the other thing to keep in mind are those online merchants who might not be completely trust-worthy. While the large and legitimate online retailers have credit card processing systems in place to help keep your card information secure, the unscrupulous merchants might try to take advantage of that data by either using it themselves or selling it for a high price to electronic criminals.

But, using a virtual credit card number will make it impossible for a hacker or a dishonest retailer to be able to use that number to do their own shopping at other websites. This provides people who make a lot of online purchases a great deal of peace of mind and it has proven to be one of the simplest and most effective ways to safeguard personal information, which can lead to credit card fraud and identity theft.