3 ms·

Coincidentally, just earlier today I was looking for one-time-use prepaid cards. I thought I'd buy a few $100 worth cards and use them for pseudo-anonymous tran

Coincidentally, just earlier today I was looking for one-time-use prepaid cards. I thought I'd buy a few $100 worth cards and use them for pseudo-anonymous transactions. However, all I could find were prepaid "debit cards" (which could be easily tied back to be) our store specific "gift" cards. Curious to see if anyone has a good solution for that? (In the US.)

hansvm 3y ago
Visa vanilla is fairly practical for most threat models. I know some orgs are trying to do more ad targeting via security cameras across multiple stores, but afaik you'll have no problem paying cash for a visa vanilla gift card, activating it online (through a vpn or something if you're worried about that level of tracking), and then using it like a credit card at nearly any brick-and-mortar store and many online retailers. Potential flaws: (1) They used to have a bit of overhead (1-5%). Not sure nowadays. (2) None of that is ironclad anonymity. Don't be an outspoken gay ukrainian hacktivist journalist visiting russia or anything. (3) Some organizations will only do business with you if they're able to slurp up more data than the initial transaction would suggest to a reasonable person. You can't use prepaid phones to sign up to many online accounts (notably Facebook for a long time) because the site owner can't slurp up your address and other info without certain postpaid plans, and you can't use any pseudo-anonymous card [0] to make transactions at a place that wants to buy your address and purchasing habits from the card issuer. [0] Solutions like privacy.com might qualify here perhaps, in that you can actually anonymize your name/address/... and still use most of the sites trying to capitalize on that data, but fundamentally that just turns them into a middleman with the same data, and I expect they'll sell out eventually. Plus they have raw access to your bank account and other things you might not want to give out.
- TheCapeGreek 3y ago
  >You can't use prepaid phones to sign up to many online accounts Presumably this is meaning prepaid phone numbers? Also assuming this is likely a US thing? Or I'm misreading it somehow. Because otherwise, I've always bought my phone cash and buy my airtime and data prepaid (no contract) in both EU and Africa and have never come across a service that restricted my phone number for being prepaid.
  - quantum_magpie 3y ago
    My number in EU (LTU) is not prepaid, but likely on some bullshit outdated prefix blacklist, so US companies (microsoft and blizzard so far) do not allow to use it for authenticators and such for being a prepaid number. MS simply refused to send the SMS, blizzard explicitly mentioned the prepaid reason.
  - genevra 3y ago
    I think they are referring to VOIP numbers which are blocked from usage for the vast majority of sign ups requiring a phone number
  - hansvm 3y ago
    Yeah, prepaid phone numbers. I assume it's also likely a US thing as well. If you drop down to the store and buy a TracPhone or Cricket Wireless product or whatever and load it up with a few pre-paid minutes, that'll fail a lot of the identity verification steps happening behind the scenes when you try to create accounts with it. Generally post-paid plans (or "contracts" as they're often called, since we love overloading words) will work for that sort of thing day one.
- bonton89 3y ago
  I tried to buy something with a new vanilla visa prepaid card while on a VPN recently and found stripe failed the transaction with a vague something happened error. And then found the visa balance check website plays the same game. Googling around it sounds like they've blocked the card and I'll have to call them and wait on hold if I want any chance of getting the stolen funds back. The card doesn't work on my standard IP either now.
nixgeek 3y ago
Privacy.com is very neat for this.
- wardedVibe 3y ago
  their privacy policies are not great iirc. ironicially.
hooli_gan 3y ago
Have you tried cash?

hansvm 3y ago

Visa vanilla is fairly practical for most threat models. I know some orgs are trying to do more ad targeting via security cameras across multiple stores, but afaik you'll have no problem paying cash for a visa vanilla gift card, activating it online (through a vpn or something if you're worried about that level of tracking), and then using it like a credit card at nearly any brick-and-mortar store and many online retailers. Potential flaws: (1) They used to have a bit of overhead (1-5%). Not sure nowadays. (2) None of that is ironclad anonymity. Don't be an outspoken gay ukrainian hacktivist journalist visiting russia or anything. (3) Some organizations will only do business with you if they're able to slurp up more data than the initial transaction would suggest to a reasonable person. You can't use prepaid phones to sign up to many online accounts (notably Facebook for a long time) because the site owner can't slurp up your address and other info without certain postpaid plans, and you can't use any pseudo-anonymous card [0] to make transactions at a place that wants to buy your address and purchasing habits from the card issuer. [0] Solutions like privacy.com might qualify here perhaps, in that you can actually anonymize your name/address/... and still use most of the sites trying to capitalize on that data, but fundamentally that just turns them into a middleman with the same data, and I expect they'll sell out eventually. Plus they have raw access to your bank account and other things you might not want to give out.

TheCapeGreek 3y ago
>You can't use prepaid phones to sign up to many online accounts Presumably this is meaning prepaid phone numbers? Also assuming this is likely a US thing? Or I'm misreading it somehow. Because otherwise, I've always bought my phone cash and buy my airtime and data prepaid (no contract) in both EU and Africa and have never come across a service that restricted my phone number for being prepaid.
- quantum_magpie 3y ago
  My number in EU (LTU) is not prepaid, but likely on some bullshit outdated prefix blacklist, so US companies (microsoft and blizzard so far) do not allow to use it for authenticators and such for being a prepaid number. MS simply refused to send the SMS, blizzard explicitly mentioned the prepaid reason.
- genevra 3y ago
  I think they are referring to VOIP numbers which are blocked from usage for the vast majority of sign ups requiring a phone number
- hansvm 3y ago
  Yeah, prepaid phone numbers. I assume it's also likely a US thing as well. If you drop down to the store and buy a TracPhone or Cricket Wireless product or whatever and load it up with a few pre-paid minutes, that'll fail a lot of the identity verification steps happening behind the scenes when you try to create accounts with it. Generally post-paid plans (or "contracts" as they're often called, since we love overloading words) will work for that sort of thing day one.
bonton89 3y ago
I tried to buy something with a new vanilla visa prepaid card while on a VPN recently and found stripe failed the transaction with a vague something happened error. And then found the visa balance check website plays the same game. Googling around it sounds like they've blocked the card and I'll have to call them and wait on hold if I want any chance of getting the stolen funds back. The card doesn't work on my standard IP either now.

nixgeek 3y ago

Privacy.com is very neat for this.

wardedVibe 3y ago
their privacy policies are not great iirc. ironicially.

hooli_gan 3y ago

Have you tried cash?