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Use card controls and virtual card numbers online
Why it matters: Limiting what each card number can do shrinks the damage of any leak. It also sets up the guardrails you'll want when AI agents start shopping for you.
Do it
- Check whether your bank or card offers virtual card numbers, merchant locks or spending limits.
- Use a separate virtual number for each subscription where offered, or at least one card just for online shopping.
- Turn on the card lock feature and know where it is in the app.
- Remove saved cards from stores you rarely use.
Check it worked: Subscriptions and online shopping run on a card with controls or virtual numbers, so a leaked number can be shut off in seconds without replacing your main card.
Simply put
Virtual card numbers are like giving each shop its own key that only opens one drawer. If one shop leaks its key, you cancel that one and your main card keeps working.
In detail
Payment networks are building tokenized credentials that a merchant or an agent can use only within limits you set. Getting used to per-merchant numbers now is the household version of least privilege.
Points toward the Long View: spending limits you'll set for AI agents that shop on your behalf.