Fraud
We’ve grown a little paranoid over the last couple of years, at least in regard to the use of credit cards and the internet, having had our number lifted once off a retailer’s database and having our savings account raided once by a bank employee who redirected an ATM card and PIN to himself or a confederate. Luckily we’ve always detected the fraud early on in the piece, so we haven’t experienced any actual damages in the long run. Nevertheless, we remain reluctant to buy on-line even from trusted retailers, because they’re not the ones we have to worry about per se. But credit card sales on the internet are huge, so the card vendors have a new gimmick to help us indulge our mail-order tastes: fake numbers. It’s no big surprise to me that MBNA is offering this, or Citibank for that matter, since these are two of the biggest credit card vendors out there. It also seems like a really good idea, even if it does add a step or two in executing the transaction. There must be rules in place somewhere in their service agreement with banks offering cards and retailers accepting them that prevent Visa and MasterCard themselves from offering the service, although it would potentially increase their revenue stream if they could charge consumers a small fee. Even though American Express isn’t offering their customers temporary numbers anymore, I’d guess MBNA and Citibank (and eventually others) will continue to do so.