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Anyone know of a way to know if one's credit card is classified this way? The author was using the corporate card they were issued... and presumably hadn't soug

Anyone know of a way to know if one's credit card is classified this way? The author was using the corporate card they were issued... and presumably hadn't sought out a "privacy card", a term I never heard before today.

happymellon 4y ago
I still don't understand what a "privacy card" is.
- webmobdev 4y ago
  One version of it that I have used is "virtual" prepaid cards. The way it works is that I can use my online banking account to create a new "virtual" card and load it with a fixed amount from my bank account. A new single-use credit / debit card number (by Visa or Mastercard) would be generated with CVV and expiry date that I can use online anywhere. It provides an easy and secure way of transacting online without providing the Primary Card / Account information to the merchant. Another version I wasn't aware, has been explained here in another comment - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32238813 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32238813 ...
  - happymellon 4y ago
    I have unique cards generated for online transactions, and I see this feature with multiple banks here in the UK. It seems mad that this would be considered a bad thing.
    - tlogan 4y ago
      But if somebody steals your login, they can create multiple virtual numbers and spend a lot. And since these are virtual number, MC or Visa will not have tools to find problem or block it. Can somebody which knowledge of this explain problems with "privacy" cards and why scammers love them?
      - nulbyte 4y ago
        Mastercard and Visa aren't the ones at risk by such activity, the issuing banks are, and as someone who works for a bank, yes, banks have tools to detect and stop account takeovers and assist card members in recovering from such incidents. Scammers don't care about privacy cards. They'll use anything they can get their hands on, metaphorical or otherwise. If it doesn't have their details attached, it's fair game to them.
    - Brystephor 4y ago
      It's due to fraud risk. If googles threshold billing is X, then their risk of revenue loss is X*(N+1) where N is the number of virtual card numbers that have been created for a single physical card. The +1 is for the physical card. Visa/Mastercard likely don't supply a way to link a physical card to it's virtual card generations (that'd be a security risk), so Google doesn't know that virtual card A is associated with physical card B.
paulgb 4y ago
Brex has a feature where you can create vendor-specific cards, which I think is what's being referred to as the “privacy” feature. It makes it less disruptive to disable a card if a vendor leaks it, because it only interrupts payments to that vendor instead of having to update your card with every vendor. I wasn't using that feature here, but it might be the case that the information that arrives at Google is just the issuer so they classify all Brex cards as “privacy” cards?
- happymellon 4y ago
  Well that will just cement my lack of relationship with Google and ensure that my business goes to AWS. Considering that many banks are doing this sort of service to protect you against data breaches, I can't see how this is actually an appropriate policy.
  - KronisLV 4y ago
    > Well that will just cement my lack of relationship with Google and ensure that my business goes to AWS. How can you run your ads through AWS? Or a better question, what other ad networks that are comparable to what Google offers are there? Because to me it seems almost like a monopoly in regards to how impactful Google's services are - sadly they aren't regulated as such.
    - ajford 4y ago
      I'm assuming OP here was referencing Google's cloud services vs AWS. As in Google's abysmal behavior in regards to AdWords has spoiled them against using any other Google services.
      - happymellon 4y ago
        It just feels like a massive risk to my business that they could take my business and essentially shut it down, and block any communications. Surely they should be able to see that OP is an actual customer and not some sort of scammer.
ROTMetro 4y ago
For corporate cards (and I beleive gift cards and debit, no idea about privacy cards they didn't exist yet) when I wrote this sort of software way back you could identify by card ranges/format (that was the case in the past), just like how you identify if a card is Visa, Mastercard, Amex. A Visa subrange will be corporate, restricted purchase, etc. So for example, a trucker can have a corporate card that works to purchase gas outside but not the CStore inside. If you know someone who write's merchant software they should be able to get you the ranges from their payment processor's specs.

happymellon 4y ago

I still don't understand what a "privacy card" is.

webmobdev 4y ago
One version of it that I have used is "virtual" prepaid cards. The way it works is that I can use my online banking account to create a new "virtual" card and load it with a fixed amount from my bank account. A new single-use credit / debit card number (by Visa or Mastercard) would be generated with CVV and expiry date that I can use online anywhere. It provides an easy and secure way of transacting online without providing the Primary Card / Account information to the merchant. Another version I wasn't aware, has been explained here in another comment - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32238813 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32238813 ...
- happymellon 4y ago
  I have unique cards generated for online transactions, and I see this feature with multiple banks here in the UK. It seems mad that this would be considered a bad thing.
  - tlogan 4y ago
    But if somebody steals your login, they can create multiple virtual numbers and spend a lot. And since these are virtual number, MC or Visa will not have tools to find problem or block it. Can somebody which knowledge of this explain problems with "privacy" cards and why scammers love them?
    - nulbyte 4y ago
      Mastercard and Visa aren't the ones at risk by such activity, the issuing banks are, and as someone who works for a bank, yes, banks have tools to detect and stop account takeovers and assist card members in recovering from such incidents. Scammers don't care about privacy cards. They'll use anything they can get their hands on, metaphorical or otherwise. If it doesn't have their details attached, it's fair game to them.
  - Brystephor 4y ago
    It's due to fraud risk. If googles threshold billing is X, then their risk of revenue loss is X*(N+1) where N is the number of virtual card numbers that have been created for a single physical card. The +1 is for the physical card. Visa/Mastercard likely don't supply a way to link a physical card to it's virtual card generations (that'd be a security risk), so Google doesn't know that virtual card A is associated with physical card B.

paulgb 4y ago

Brex has a feature where you can create vendor-specific cards, which I think is what's being referred to as the “privacy” feature. It makes it less disruptive to disable a card if a vendor leaks it, because it only interrupts payments to that vendor instead of having to update your card with every vendor. I wasn't using that feature here, but it might be the case that the information that arrives at Google is just the issuer so they classify all Brex cards as “privacy” cards?

happymellon 4y ago
Well that will just cement my lack of relationship with Google and ensure that my business goes to AWS. Considering that many banks are doing this sort of service to protect you against data breaches, I can't see how this is actually an appropriate policy.
- KronisLV 4y ago
  > Well that will just cement my lack of relationship with Google and ensure that my business goes to AWS. How can you run your ads through AWS? Or a better question, what other ad networks that are comparable to what Google offers are there? Because to me it seems almost like a monopoly in regards to how impactful Google's services are - sadly they aren't regulated as such.
  - ajford 4y ago
    I'm assuming OP here was referencing Google's cloud services vs AWS. As in Google's abysmal behavior in regards to AdWords has spoiled them against using any other Google services.
    - happymellon 4y ago
      It just feels like a massive risk to my business that they could take my business and essentially shut it down, and block any communications. Surely they should be able to see that OP is an actual customer and not some sort of scammer.

ROTMetro 4y ago

For corporate cards (and I beleive gift cards and debit, no idea about privacy cards they didn't exist yet) when I wrote this sort of software way back you could identify by card ranges/format (that was the case in the past), just like how you identify if a card is Visa, Mastercard, Amex. A Visa subrange will be corporate, restricted purchase, etc. So for example, a trucker can have a corporate card that works to purchase gas outside but not the CStore inside. If you know someone who write's merchant software they should be able to get you the ranges from their payment processor's specs.