Domain: mbnashopsafe.com
Stories and comments across the archive that link to mbnashopsafe.com.
Comments · 8
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Re:This is insane...
https://www.mbnashopsafe.com/o...
It's been around for over ten years. It provides disposable numbers. Each new number is locked into a single payee, and you can update/set the expiration date and credit limit for these numbers, so you never have to reveal the "root" CC number - not even for recurring bills .
I don't think you can change the name on the card or the billing address. -
Re:Broken by design
About 10 years ago I had a credit card that offered a website. It would let you generate a new credit card number at any time that was only good for up to a certain amount.
About 10 minutes ago, I did exactly that with Bank of America's ShopSafe -- not that they're the only one around. But I've used them for years and it works great.
You log into the website and select your supporting credit card. Then you find the (Mostly hidden? Why??) option and tell it the maximum dollar amount and the max numbers of valid months. It generates a new CC number and CSC with the limits you specify. The first vendor who uses the card is linked to the card so no one else can use it again. (The original vendor can; great for single-vendor monthly or periodic purchases.) You can even increase the total amount later or cancel the virtual card early if necessary. If not, it'll expire after it's short lifetime (months) is up
One time BoA alerted me that a virtual card I used at a charity was later used elsewhere. They surprisingly canceled the actual card along with the virtual one. The virtual cards purpose was long over, but I was surprised that they killed the real card supporting it. Still, no problems at all using these on-the-fly cards for years now. I use it for all of my year-end charitable contributions and for any place I don't absolutely 100% trust. (And a few that I even do!) -
Your SSN, your Credit, and your Shredder
Don't just cough up your SSN just cuz some inbred bureaucrat decided to ask for it on a form. Only the bank and your employer need it or have a right to request it. Everybody else, the university, the cable company, the video store, your insurer should be slapped down when they request it.
Protect your credit, I use MBNA Shop Safe, where I can generate one time use credit card numbers online. Too many major databases of credit cards have been owned by script kiddies to do anything less.
Buy a decent shredder and anything with even your address on it goes through it. Secure your mailbox.
-Iron -
Re:MBNA works fine
Another benefit of MBNA is the availability of a disposable credit card. It works like this: you get a regular credit card from MBNA. You associate it with this "secure online" service. Now, when you want to purchase something online, you go back to MBNA ShopSafe, launch the Flash thingie, and a credit card number is generated for you--except that you determine at that time how much you would like the credit limit to be for that newly-generated card number, and when that credit card number will expire.
I thought this was all pretty paranoid stuff until I received an email from an online vendor that said that their database had been hacked, credit card numbers were violated in particular, and they were being held ransom. (The vendor confirmed that their backend was Microsoft based--need I say more?) Perhaps the "unauthorized use" security features of a regular credit card would have protected me, but I looked around anyways--and found MBNA Shopsafe, which supports Chimera ( Mozilla) on OS X. Now I don't have to worry. -
Re:This ain't gonna happen...
For the same reason you like Discover, I like to use my MBNA Mastercard. They have something called Shopsafe which lets me generate a one-time, vendor specific credit card number, with expire times and credit limits that I chose.
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Re:This is the most insanely stupid concept...
A far better approach to security with credit cards is one-time-use numbers, or merchant-specific numbers. Most credit cards have at least one issuer that provides that functionality. I believe both MBNA and CitiCorp (citibank? whatever their name is today) let their credit card customers generate one-off numbers specific to a merchant and with user-specified expiration dates and credit limits.
I have been using the MBNA system for a year and a half (after the first, and only time, I had my actual credit card number stolen online). I've probably done about $20K of charges since then using the one-off numbers and have not had a single fraud problem since. The only real downside is that you have to use a flash-applet that I haven't been able to make run under linux yet in order to generate the numbers. But, for a windows-user it is amazingly well designed and easy to use. It fits into the current credit card system transparently (the merchant's never even know the number is "special") and requires very little overhead compared to the original, insecure, send your number all over the web approach. Now I don't even mind emailing cc#'s to people because I know that in the rare chance that it is intercepted, it will only be good for one, very limited, use and I won't have to go through the hassle of canceling my primary card and waiting around until a new one is issued.
See MBNA ShopSafe for their program details. -
Re:Don't buy online.
While I won't go as far as the other person who replied to this post, you are indeed somewhat misguided. Although not buying online is perhaps the only 100% solution, akin to abstinence for some people, the use of single-card credit card numbers has made me feel significantly safer about purchasing items online, which I do often.
Sites that I trust (big vendors with reputable histories) get my real credit card number, so that I can buy things instantly from them, but that's only a select few. All of the rest get single-use numbers that are no good for any transactions but that one. Both Visa and Discover support this technology - Visa's version is ShopSafe, while Discover's is Discover Deskshop, both of which are free tools.
Although I buy things frequently, my buying patterns have so far never resulted in my cc info being compromised, and I hope to keep it that way. The biggest scare I ever got was when Egghead admitted to having had cc's stolen, if anyone remembers that story. But mine must not have been one of the ones that they got. -
Re:paper tiger
Boy, oh, boy...you must be relatively new to the Internet.
Here's just one example of organized credit card fraud on the Internet. Some software piracy groups have *entire segments* dedicated to credit card fraud. They even have a name for these folks: "carders." They'll "card" a laptop, CD writer, etc. for you, and find a way to get it safely received. Many of these folks have huge lists of names, addresses, and credit card numbers that often come from compromised websites.
It's happened to me before. Luckily, I caught it, and I learned from my mistake. I've found a way to help defend against this kind of attack.
Everyone should think about using one-time-use credit card numbers when making purchases from anyone over the phone or Internet. Several credit card issuers offer this feature. Here's an example of one of them.