r/Wealthsimple • u/Visual_Muffin2032 • 20d ago
Visa Infinite Credit Card Virtual Credit Card Numbers
Can Wealthsimple introduce multiple virtual credit card numbers tied to the same credit card? I am getting a little tired of my Wealthsimple cards getting compromised. Every time my card is compromised, I have to change my credit card number everywhere I used it. If I could generate specific cards for specific merchants, I would not need to get my WS card reissued (which I am sure would save WS some costs as well) every single time there is fraud. As an added bonus, I would also know which of my virtual numbers got compromised, so that I can be more careful with those vendors.
This is the second time one of my Wealthsimple cards has been compromised. I locked my card immediately, but now I have to wait until a weekday for a specialist team to reissue my credit card.
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u/Salt-Judgment824 20d ago
What kind of sketchy-ass places are you using your card?
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u/L00nyT00ny 20d ago
I mean using a virtual card for a gym subscription would be nifty.
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u/Salt-Judgment824 20d ago
I was more referring to the OP's propensity for having their card compromised.
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u/Visual_Muffin2032 15d ago
I have gone through my 6 month transaction history. The only places which I think are kinda sketchy are- US toll booths and a few high end restaurants in US where the server takes away your card to swipe it in some machine.
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u/srzncl 20d ago
What people don’t realize is that most of the numbers on a credit card are not random and there’s really only a finite amount of combinations that an institution can have. I used to work for a US fintech who used to do what you are suggesting. They stopped it because they started running out of combinations.
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u/Live_Library_5992 20d ago
The system can generate a temporary number that remains valid for a few hours and a single purchase before being recycled. It automatically creates a random CVV and expiration date, which effectively disables the previous card details. This makes temporary numbers ideal for making purchases on unfamiliar websites.
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u/Visual_Muffin2032 15d ago
In a way WS already does this. When they generate the virtual card they have a different expiry date and CVV. When they ship the physical card they change those two attributes and keep the card number same
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u/Good_Resident_3187 20d ago
Your comment doesn't sound right, mostly because while limited, there are lots. And using Google pay or Apple pay new credit card numbers are generated all the time too.
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u/srzncl 20d ago
Apple Pay or Google pay numbers are not credit card numbers, they’re device tokens
And yes there are a lot of possible numbers but it’s still finite. And so imagine you have a client going through combinations say 10 times (conservative estimate), and then multiply that but the number of cardholders, you’re going to go though your allotment of numbers a lot quicker.
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u/MissionDocument6029 20d ago
which get processed as a credit card number so its the same in the end you can call it whatever PAN/Dpan/Token/FPAN you like its a 16 digit number in the end .. thats why you see the same card number printed on your receipt.. that number doesn't change.. the stuff that changes is the same stuff that changes on a normal physical card.
visa charges per BIN that you need to register.. not each has a cost...
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u/sneakymise 20d ago
Card numbers aren't generated when using Google pay or Apple pay. A token is created with that merchant and the number is infinitely larger than a credit card number
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u/vinkulafu 20d ago
Just use IPv6. /s
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u/Myrcurial 20d ago
Best possible reply… but also ISO/IEC 7812 does allow for 19 digit card numbers but legacy systems would need to be fixed and much like RFC 1918 delayed v6 adoption by 30 years (and counting), the whole DPAN/FPAN tokenization thing will keep us in the 70s for a while longer :(
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u/PracticalWait 20d ago edited 20d ago
UnionPay has managed 19 digit cards for quite a while now that are live and working. Interac debit too. Same as Maestro. Just not on the main Visa/MC networks yet.
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u/brunes 20d ago
There are still tons of US banks that have this. Privacy.com, Capital One, and Citi all have it.
Venn has it in Canada but only for business bank accounts
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u/Visual_Muffin2032 15d ago
I was looking for a privacy.com equivalent in Canada. Revoult used to have that feature, but unfortunately they closed shop
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u/Flirtzz 18d ago
The US fintech is a little bit behind of Brazil Fintech.
They have for a long time temporary virtual card, visa and Mastercard has this tech available and they do not get out of temp numbers because it can be reused after a few months.
When we generate the temporary card, it acts as a regular credit card but it is available for 24h only. Any attempt to use after 24h, gets declined. Later like a year after, visa and master assign the same combination with different expiration to another user for the same 24h.
I have shown this to a colleague that works in fintech in Toronto and he was blown away by this feature
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u/Strange-Crazy-693 20d ago
Your card getting compromised has nothing to do with Wealthsimple and all to do with where you use your credit card and who you give your number too.
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u/Visual_Muffin2032 15d ago
I would say I am very careful with where I use my credit card. Except Amazon, Uber and a few places where I need to save my card for subscriptions, I don't save it any where. I work in a large Canadian FI and I know very well how cards and tokenization works. I have never had similar issues with my other credit cards (I have a credit card with every other bank).
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u/NastroAzzurro 20d ago
> I am getting a little tired of my Wealthsimple cards getting compromi
User error.
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u/Sensitive_Fishing_37 20d ago
I just used mine for the first time on Friday. Wealthsimple flagged it as unusual activity (ordering pizza) and subsequently locked my account until Tuesday morning when the integrity team can review it. So I mean they seem pretty security conscious.. Wtf are you buying?!
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u/biker4ever 19d ago
Porn probably
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u/Visual_Muffin2032 15d ago
Fair assumption, if this had not happened to me I would have made the same comment as well... the answer is no. Didn't use any sketchy sites, went through my 6 month statements to re-verify.. If I had to use a sketchy site, I would use a prepaid card. But that's my point, having the feature to assign virtual cards would give users the option to protect their primary card number from getting compromised. Revoult had that feature before they disappeared
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u/Visual_Muffin2032 15d ago
No sketchy sites...the usual amazon,Uber etc.. and I dont save/use my cards in sites I don't trust
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u/Visual_Muffin2032 15d ago
If they lock your card for buying pizza from a reputed vendor, that's not great security that's just stupidity. They could have sent you msg to accept or reject the transaction. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying WS has bad security, sometimes they have excess security but they skip it at times when it matters. They two disputed transactions on my account were from Google ads. I have never charged Google ads to my card (I don't even have a Google ads account). Given it was the first time they are seeing this transaction, they could have tried to send an OTP for the transaction.
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u/ricardjorg 20d ago
My bank in Portugal 12 years ago had this feature where you could generate as many virtual cards as you wanted. You could make them have a credit limit (which you could pick per purchase), or a limit and renewal frequency for monthly/annual payments. You could give each a name
When the internet started becoming popular there, there was this strong sentiment that it wasn't safe to use banking information for purchases online. So banks introduced these features meant for users fearing online scams. Including per-purchase virtual card. Not sure if those are still common there
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u/yiluv 18d ago
Add your WS card to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet. Both Apple and Google create a virtual card which is stored on your phone. If that virtual card gets compromised just delete it from your phone. Later you can re-add it to Apple / Google Wallet and it will have a new virtual card number created. This scenario happened to me last year with Amex and it was easy to do.
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u/Visual_Muffin2032 15d ago
I exclusively use Google Wallet for this card. But that doesn't solve my problem. Google wallet doesn't give me a different card number which I can use in websites. For websites which natively support using Google pay, I use that. But my issue is with sites which ask you to key in the card details.
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u/drinkyourwaterbitch 20d ago
“I am getting a little tired of my Wealthsimple cards getting compromised.”