Linux Friendly One-Time Credit Card Providers?

PoochieReds writes "My credit card company has just introduced some pretty foul new rules (shortening grace periods, raising fees, etc.), so I've started shopping around for a new one. I use this card for most of my purchases and pay off my balance at the end of each month. One thing that my old CC company had was the ability to use one-time CC numbers. This was really handy for Internet and over the phone purchases, and I like the safety it provides. The downside was that this co. used a flash-based app for this feature. Does anyone have recommendations of a CC company that can provide one-time CC numbers via a regular browser-based web form?"

Comments

Here you go

[madaxe42]

http://www.darkcoding.net/gencc-online.py

*sniggers*

pr0n?

[Anonymous Coward]

Just buy a pack of cards "The Girls of the Internet" in your local sex-shop.

Research?

[shibbydude]

How exactly can you throw "Linux-Friendly" into the question when this is really a Flash problem. I hate flash as much as most people but really you should do your own research, i.e. call some banks and ask about their online banking. I know my bank, UMB, does use a form-based system. I am sure it is not terribly hard to find a bank that does not have a flash interface, it just seems that every ask-slashdotter has no idea how to use a phone book.

Re:Research?

[Creepy Crawler]

Oh yeah, let met whip out my linux binary of ActiveX. Oh yeah, THERE ISNT ONE.

You know if there was an IQ test to post to slashdot, you wouldnt pass?

Re:Research?

[Anonymous Coward]

Flash doesn't require Active X.

Here, see for yourself.

Re:Research?

[nuggetman]

Last time I checked ActiveX != Flash

Re:Research?

[shibbydude]

Let me whip out my linux binary of flash player. Let me look around for a second... BAM! Here it is: http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/downl oad.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash&P2_Platform =Linux&P3_Browser_Version=Netscape4
That wasn't so hard. If there was a Google test you wouldn't pass.

Re:Research?

[Creepy Crawler]

Naw shit.

Many banks use ActiveX IE browser 'programs'. Only very few places have I seen use some sort of Flash. The flash sites work OK with Linux.

THen of course, you have idiots saying "ActiveX is not flash". Really?

Re:Research?

[shibbydude]

You are correct that some banks use ActiveX features, but I stated that my bank has a forms-based interface. Not only that, but the original poster stated in his question that his bank uses a "Flash" interface. Thus my answer to both the original poster and to you is that there is flash support through a native flash player binary for linux. My only problem with the original post was that it equated his distaste for Flash with an inability to use Flash under Linux, which is not true.

Re:Research?

[AdamPiotrZochowski]

Where do I select my cpu? or does this one download work on both sparc/powerppc?
It does not look like the usual linux friendly configure/make/make install

If there were a Linux friendly test, this would not pass...

--
/apz, remember kids, Linux != x86

Re:Research?

[Detritus]

Like your average customer service drone is going to even understand the question, let alone know the answer.

Re:Research?

[passthecrackpipe]

"It does not look like the usual linux friendly configure/make/make install" You seem to confuse "Linux Friendly" with "I only compile from source". You rpersonal ideology and computing habits aside, those two are not the same thing.

Re:Research?

[Holi]

Why because it's not open source. If you require all software on Linux to be open source you might as well admit it is a hobby os. Not everyone wants to give away the source to their projects.

Ahh fuck it, I hate GPL nazis, I'm going back to BSD.

Re:Research?

[Sentry21]

For that matter, unless you are on an unusual architecture (like PPC or Sparc - unlikely), Flash works fine in Linux. Install the plugin, and maybe install that flash blocker that lets you click to enable it, and poof, problem solved.

This isn't even a problem, it's just laziness.

Re:Research?

[AdamPiotrZochowski]

no, I dont care for open source, if it only would work on all major
architectures. I do not ask for c64 linux support of flash.

maybe my snide remark for the configure/make was unwarrented, I dunno
but I really dislike when people say linux supported when they only
mean x86 linux while ignore all the other architectures. Is it really
that hard for commercial entities to say 'x86 Linux' supported?

--
/apz, Honk if you are against noise pollution!

Re:Research?

[Plac3bo]

I'm running Linux on a AMD64 (x86_64) platform. There is not a flash player available for me that will run the "One-Time CC number" app the OP is talking about. And don't even say x86_64 is an unusual architecture, it currently looks like the future of desktop computing (the way HP/Compaq/etc are pumping these chips out), but perhaps I'm just a little a head of the curve.

So, no, I'm not being lazy, quite the contrary, I've been searching everywhere for the same answer as the OP for months now.

Re:Research?

[AdamPiotrZochowski]

I do not require it to be open source, I see I should have not put
that into the discussion since it was a stupid digression that only
derailed the main problem. Flash is only x86 Linux. Period.

also, I did not mention GPL, also, configure/make is the standard BSD
way as well IIRC. Finally, if there were Flash for xBSD, you too would
be dissapointed if you could not get your flash to run on your ultra5
sparc, or any other box, except the x86.

--
/apz, Blessed are the young, for they shall inherit the national debt.

Re:Research?

[Plac3bo]

Have you ever considered that possibly the OP is running x86_64? To date, there is no Linux Flash player.

Re:Research?

[croddy]

install 32-bit emulation libraries. install 32-bit netscape or mozilla. install 32-bit flash player.

fin

Re:Research?

[Anonymous Coward]

Shouldn't that be "x86 GNU/X/Linux" Mr. Stallman?

Re:Research?

[irq255]

Couldn't x86_64 (amd64?) run a 32 bit version of firefox and then use the 32 bit flash plugin in linux?

Re:Research?

[Anonymous Coward]

Please don't post using a monospaced font. It's very annoying.

Re:Research?

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't post using a monospaced font, unless you're posting code. (That's why it's called "Code" in the drop-down list.)

Re:Research?

[Anonymous Coward]

Stop posting using a monospaced font. It's annoying.

Linux friendly?

[Anonymous Coward]

Since when did Linux not run Flash?

Quit whining and just download the plugin.

Re:Linux friendly?

[AdamPiotrZochowski]

Download the plugin? I will gladly run a plugin that would work
on the Linuxes I touch : ultraSparc/Alpha/Mips/PowerPPC.

--
/apz, ahem, Linux != x86

Re:Linux friendly?

[RomulusNR]

Well then your question is completely misstated. You're not upset at your bank not being Linux-friendly, you're upset at it not being friendly to the offbeat platforms you choose to run on.

Did you call them and ask if they had alternate methods, or did you come straight to /. to make a hyperbolic statement about your bank's evil anti-RISC ways?

Re:Linux friendly?

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't post monospaced. It's fucking annoying.

Re:Linux friendly?

[JeffTL]

PowerPC? That's usually Apple hardware...ever thought about using Mac-On-Linux or dual booting to run Mac OS X to get your Flash working?

Or you could use some means of emulating IA32 and run another Linux in a box.

Flash based in linux?

[dubious9]

If it's flash, why can't you use it in Linux? Flash is one of the few plugins that firefox will install with it's auto-plugin thingy.

Anyway, I've never heard of disposable CC numbers, it does sound handy. I think I'll have to look into too.

And for the "why ask slashdot, when you can google it in two minutes" aswer, it looks like, American Express, and MBNA offer them, but without signing up, I don't know what kind a mechanism they use. The PCworld article says something about "Orbiscom's O-power" application, but I can't find technicle details on it. Orbiscom's clients page says that most of the bigger CC people are dabbling in this sort of tech.

Have fun.

Re:Flash based in linux?

[dubl-u]

And for the "why ask slashdot, when you can google it in two minutes" aswer, it looks like, American Express [com.com], and MBNA [pcworld.com] offer them, but without signing up, I don't know what kind a mechanism they use.

This is a sign you should perhaps be more hesitant with the "why ask slashdot when you can google it" answer.

American Express tried one-time disposable credit card numbers of a sort years ago, but discontinued them. But it wasn't much like what the poster had in mind. Now they don't offer anything like that, at least to regular cardholders. How do I know? I'm an American Express customer, and I want what the poster wants, too.

There's lots of information that you can't quickly get from Google, and "My fellow geeks, what are the different ways you accomplish X" is generally like that.

Re:Flash based in linux?

[Anonymous Coward]

If it's flash, why can't you use it in Linux?

Linux doesn't just run on x86, you know.

Re:Flash based in linux?

[alatesystems]

My American Express doesn't have one time use CC-numbers.

My MBNA Visa does, and it uses Flash. You can use a flash app via their webpage that runs fine under linux as a javascript popup with flash inside it, or you can download a standalone executable(still flash based) that runs in your system tray on Win32.

I don't think the OP was talking about MBNA; either that, or they haven't screwed me yet. Honestly, I have gotten tons of offers with a lower interest rate, but the one time use CC #s keeps me with MBNA. If anyone knows another bank that has them (visa or MC), please let me know.

Re:Flash based in linux?

[pyros]

citibank had the same thing (flash applet or standalone application). but recently i've had problems using it in firefox on windows, haven't booted linux in a while so i'm not sure about that. Discover card has is too, and i haven't had any cross-platform problems with that.

Re:Flash based in linux?

[dubious9]

Linux doesn't just run on x86, you know.

But flash *does* run on the vast majority of desktop platforms out there. Since this guys wants to do banking, I assume he's working on some sort of desktop system. Who runs a desktop that isn't x86, PPC, or SPARC?

Re:Flash based in linux?

[Anonymous Coward]

If you read the link you provided, you will note that all the Linux downloads are for x86 machines.

Re:Flash based in linux?

[lilmouse]

I have an MBNA card, and the last time I used it (2 years ago?) it worked fine in linux; used a popup... But they're a sleazy company, gave lots of $$$$$ to Bush&co, and are evil as any CC company...

--LWM

Hope you're getting money back...

[evilquaker]

If you use your credit card for most of your purchases, and you pay off the balance each month, you should be getting 1% cash back on all your purchases. Here are some recommendations:

• Discover: 1% cash back on purchases (after your first $4K in a single year, 0.25% or 0.5% before that). No limit on cash back.
• Citi Platinum Dividend Select: 1% cash back, 5% at supermarkets, gas stations, drugstores. Limited to $300 back per year.
• Chase PerfectCard: 1% cash back, 3% at gas stations. No limit on cash back per year.

As for the one-time use numbers, how do they offer you any protection? You're only liable for $50 if your card is fraudulently used, and many CC companies waive this. As long as you check your statements every month (you do this, right?), you shouldn't have to worry. It's the retailers that carry the risk of fradulent purchases.

Re:Hope you're getting money back...

[Anonymous Coward]

If your credit card number is compromised you need to get your card replaced. If your one-time-use number is compromised you don't. Plus since it will help you keep track of where you used it, you can have a better idea of how your number got out.

Re:Hope you're getting money back...

[artifex2004]

As for the one-time use numbers, how do they offer you any protection?

The bank knows the original card number, of course. AFAIK they're subject to the same (waived) limits. One-time numbers are usually set up with a max credit line, as well. So you can say, okay, I think I'm going to spend $100 online for Mother's Day at Amazon and some gourmet food place, and you generate the number, and regardless of whether only the authorized merchants or Harry the Hacker gets the number, no more than $100 total can be charged. Anything less, of course, stays in your account.

Thing is, this is really a marketing tool. If he reads his account agreement carefully, he'll probably discover that it doesn't matter if someone grabs his real credit card number from a hacked server, or is listening in on his cordless phone call. His liability should still be the (waived) limit. He's just working a little harder to make it less likely it'll get out, to save the hassle of having to call and dispute and get a new number and change his auto-bills, is all.

Re:Hope you're getting money back...

[Anonymous Coward]

As for the one-time use numbers, how do they offer you any protection? You're only liable for $50 if your card is fraudulently used.

Thank you for illustrating well the tragedy of the commons. One-time use CC numbers help reduce fraud. Fraudulent charges, while not directly charged to the account of the defrauded customer, will eventually be paid for by consumers. Whether it be by higher prices from the merchant or by higher interest rates and fees on the part of CC companies, the entity that absorbs the cost of the fraudulent purchase will pass that cost on to the consumer.

So yeah, one-time use CC numbers won't help an individual all that much, but widespread adoption could benefit everyone. There's more perspectives to this world than just simple self interest.

Re:Hope you're getting money back...

[swillden]

It's the retailers that carry the risk of fradulent purchases.

To be precise, the liability is split between the merchant, the merchant acquirer (the merchant's bank, who collects transactions from the merchant and pays the money to the merchant) and the issuer (the bank who issued the credit card). Oh, and the cardholder is liable for $50 (in the US), but this cost is typically borne by the issuing bank, who is often successful at pawning it off on acquirer or merchant.

All three try very hard to avoid paying for it, and usually it's the merchant who gets stuck with the bulk of the cost, but exactly who pays in a given situation depends upon the details of the fraud and the specific agreements in place.

Re:Hope you're getting money back...

[swillden]

Thank you for illustrating well the tragedy of the commons. One-time use CC numbers help reduce fraud. Fraudulent charges, while not directly charged to the account of the defrauded customer, will eventually be paid for by consumers. Whether it be by higher prices from the merchant or by higher interest rates and fees on the part of CC companies, the entity that absorbs the cost of the fraudulent purchase will pass that cost on to the consumer.

I disagree that this is a tragedy of the commons situation. In this case, althought it's true that the cardholders as a group ultimately pay for the fraud, it's also true that the cardholders as a group ultimately pay for whatever technology is used to limit the fraud. Further, the card issuers and merchant acquirers do see the fraud as a negative item on their balance sheets, and when it gets large enough to justify spending money on more technology to limit the fraud, they do so, whether that be one-time numbers, microprocessors in cards, cardholder photos in cards or whatever. They do it because the fraud reduction is pure profit for them, at least until all their competitors are doing it, too, at which point the savings start to be passed on to cardholders.

The merchants are part of this equation as well, since deploying technology to accept new, more secure, forms of payment costs them money, but also saves them money in terms of reduced fraud.

"Tragedy of the Commons", on the other hand, describes a situation where it is in everyone's best individual interest to behave "badly". In this case, the banks and merchants both have direct fiscal incentives to implement technology to reduce fraud, and these incentives are actually *strengthened* by the fact that cardholders can safely assume that whoever foots the bill it won't be them... not directly, anyway.

In short, don't worry about it, use what is convenient to you. It's the job of the banks and the retailers to manage fraud, and they are actually quite good at it.

Re:Hope you're getting money back...

[pyros]

As for the one-time use numbers, how do they offer you any protection?

I't sprotection from unscrupulous sites who do recurring charges and make it a hassle to cancel. You give them a temporary number to try it out, and if you don't like it the number won't be good in a month and they can't keep charging you.

Re:Hope you're getting money back...

[PatHMV]

All those little things you mention (calling to dispute the bill, getting a new number, etc.) are a real hassle and take time and effort which could be devoted either to billable hours or fun instead of dealing with credit card bureaucrats. And it can be a real problem if your account is hacked/stolen right when you really need to use it. Suppose you're on vacation in Europe, go to pay for your rental car, and find out that your credit limit is maxed out. Do you really want to deal with that on vacation? Plus, of course, if a lot of people used one-time numbers, there would be a lot less credit card fraud, which in the end would mean lower rates for all credit card users. So I hardly consider this a "marketing tool" only. If my card company offered it, I assure you I would use it regularly.

American Express Private Payments discontinued

[200_success]

American Express was offering a "Private Payments" service, which dispensed disposable credit card numbers valid for one month. Cardmembers could obtain numbers by going to the Amex website or through a USB smart-card reader (hardward and software provided for free, with MS Windows integration). The website method worked just fine with Mozilla -- it was just HTML forms with a bit of JavaScript.

Sadly, Private Payments was discontinued two years ago. I suspect there were too many support issues in conjunction with recurring charges, product exchanges/refunds, etc.

Quality Control

[fsck!]

Okay, sure, flash is a stupid way to do this. Flash might be hard to install on Linux. I haven't tried in a while. But how can the Slashdot editors honestly think this is the kind of thing their subscribers want to talk about? This is just boring.

Re:Quality Control

[BrokenHalo]

Flash might be hard to install on Linux. I haven't tried in a while.

Mmmm-mmmm... it sounds like you've never tried. Flash binaries have been readily installable in most of the more mainstream browsers (with the exception of Lynx and Links ;-)) for at least ~7 years.

Re:Quality Control

[Anonymous Coward]

There's no 64-bit version though.

Flash on 64bit Linux

[KidHash]

Actually, Flash doesn't work on 64 bit linux. Well, at least, it doesn't compile for 64-bit firefox. If you want to use Flash with 64bit linux, you're going to have to get 32-bit firefox binaries and install it that way.

Leave MBNA go to Citibank

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

I'm 99% sure you are talking about MBNA.

I just got a notice in the mail from MBNA a few days ago. It made me wonder if I had suddenly something bad had happened to my credit report and they were sticking it to me - a common practice among credit card lenders. Since it sounds like you got the same thing, I guess they are doing it everyone.

I have been using MBNA's ShopSafe one-time use credit card generator for at least 5 years now. At one point they rolled out a new version that broke with firefox (or rather, it stopped supporting a bunch of convenience functions, like drag-and-drop of the credit card number). MBNA's tech support was inane, they were not even allowed to run a copy of the shopsafe software in front of them while talking on the phone, strickly "did you remember to plug in the internet" level. Netscape, not to even mention Mozilla, was so far beyond their comprehension it wasn't even worth trying.

So I did some research and found out that the entire system was provided by a third party company that specializes in new kinds of credit and payment systems. Unfortunately I did not bookmark their website, and their name was so generic sounding that I can never remember it. But what I did learn is that MBNA, Citi, Discover and AmEx were all clients for this same service, but AmEx dropped out circa 2002.

So, given all that, I've elected to go to Citibank, especially since they have a 1%/5% cashback card too. I have not been able to find out if Citi's cards have the same terms as MBNA is just now instigating, but I am hoping it won't matter. I intend to drop my spending with MBNA to $0 for two months and then call them up and tell them that if they want my business back, I want the old terms back.

Re:Leave MBNA go to Citibank

[Anonymous Coward]

Being a former emplyee of MBNA (and a current customer), I can tell you that their ShopSafe stuff does work in Firefox now, albeit it is Flash-based.

MBNA is a terrible place to have a running balance. The one thing they are known for is not having low rates. Lots of options, great service for the most part, no annual fees, high credit limits, but not low rates. They are not a company you want to be running a balance with.

Re:Leave MBNA go to Citibank

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

I can tell you that their ShopSafe stuff does work in Firefox now

It works, it has always worked if you have the flash plugin. It just doesn't have the same convenience functions as it does with MSIE - even with firefox on windows.

One thing that doesn't work with firefox on linux is their online bill paying. Firefox in windows works, but firefox in linux gets into an endless loop where you click on something and it always tells you that your session is timed out. But online bill payment is not part of the one-time credit cards system.

citicards.com

[draziw]

Any OS that can do Java... Log-in to your account, click on virutual number - pick launch browser based gen - login via the java window, make your number... If running windows you have the option to download a local version of the same thing.

Re:citicards.com

[pyros]

the citi tool is written in flash.

thanks!

[jago25_98]

Wow, I had an idea for cycling CC numbers and thought it hadn't been done. I was thinking monthly but even one-time numbers are available - exactly what I've been looking for.

Now I just need to find a sterling GBP £ card.

I haven't seen an online banking system I've like yet. Ones I've seen include:

- one using java; not really needed
- a slick one from the Coop; light, fast and nice looking but nothing to stop keyloggers
- a secure one from LloydsTSB that stops keyloggers by mouse selection of an additional password, but slows down login to about 30 secs

and flash sounds shocking!

Citicards.com looks interesting.

Re:thanks!

[mrob2002]

Cahoot (www.cahoot.com) offer this in the UK. There used to be two options, either log in to their site a use a little applet to generate a one time number with the limit set to the maximum you wanted to spend, or download an application to your Windows PC to do the same. They suddenly withdrew the online version, and insist you use their Windows only application now, no use to me now that I use a Mac exclusively.

Not Needed

[Anonymous Coward]

If it is a Visa/MasterCard then you have zero-liability for anything unauthorized on your card.

American Express can charge $50, but usually will not do it and offers zero-liability for online.

One-time #'s aren't really needed for CCs.

My bank used to do this

[mangu]

I sent them an email telling them that I couldn't access www.bancoreal.com.br. It was fixed in less than 24 hours. Banks really don't care which browser you use, but they do want to keep their clients.

Re:Linux-friendly Bottled Water?

[Anonymous Coward]

I must support Linux in every facet of life, as other OSes are a personal insult to me, my family, and my honor.

You were seen playing Everquest. You will die without honor! Filthy p'tagh!

don't use credit cards

[Anonymous Coward]

you might want to think twice before using any credit cards online. fraud is skyrocketing and i just had my account cleaned out by using my card on iTunes. two friends of mine had theirs stolen on amazon. one of them is suing the credit card company because they refused to cover it(unlike in their commercial)...