The single-use virtual card number is routed back to the permanent account so the person is charged after use. But, once the card number is used, it becomes invalid so it can never be used again ...

A virtual credit card works kind of like chip credit cards. With chip credit cards, the merchant gets a single-use number, or token, which changes every time your chip card is used.

The National Financial Ombud Scheme (NFO) has seen a significant increase in digital banking fraud complaints, rising from 1 436 cases between January and May 2024 to 2 483 cases during the same ...

When you use a virtual card for an online transaction, the merchant only sees the virtual card number, while your real credit card information stays secure in the background.

The big picture: Virtual cards are credit card numbers that aren't on any physical piece of plastic. They were invented by an Irish company, Orbiscom, in the 1990s, as a way of preventing fraud.

Your physical card information is not shared with merchants when you use a virtual card. Sometimes, virtual credit card numbers are one-time–use numbers for a single transaction.

Customers of credit-card companies such as Capital One, Citibank and American Express can generate a virtual-card number for an individual purchase when they are concerned about the security of ...

Checkout.com supports physical cards as well as virtual cards that can be used multiple times or can be set to be disabled after the first payment.