I use PayPal to be the middle man to protect my credit card information when I purchase items online.
Of course I have grown less fond of PayPal and their scammy behavior (plus the password limit is 20, wtf?)
My question; is there an alternative to paypal to buy things online (without crypto as not all stores take such things), such as privacy.com (but for Europe).
Correct mw if im wrong, but I believe privacy.com is for US, Canada region.
My bank doesn’t offer virtual credit cards sadly.
Was going to say monero but you excluded crypto which is your best shot.
@Wolfie Completely seconding the Revolut suggestion here. For privacy protection, works perfectly!
privacy protection with a service that’s only accessible through an ownership controlling, datamining-filled smartphone app? it was just a joke, right?
if they do this on your phone, what are they doing with your transaction data…
@ReversalHatchery I want to respectfully say that I find your answer a bit agressive in tone. I was just trying to give my best shot at an answer, even if I am not a privacy expert, as OP was really just asking for a way to conceal his Credit Card Number, or that’s what I understood.
I agree that total privacy will not be accomplished without using a custom rom and more private applications, but I feel like, for the average user, that might be too much work
Nowadays most Banks offers methodes to buy anonymous online.
https://www.safetydetectives.com/blog/best-anonymous-payment-methods/
I’ve used wise.com for this sort of thing for many years (since they used to be called transferwise). Can spin up as many virtual visa cards as you need (I think it’s max 10 active at once). I also have a physical debit card with them which will do conversions at foreign points of sale from my local currency using the mid market rate and fees much lower than visa/master. Never had an issue with them, though this is more a sort of obfuscation rather than privacy
Just recently jumped ship from Revolut to Wise, because the former does not support de-googled android anymore. I love the fact that Wise can be fully managed through the web app.
Planning a trip to Japan soon and would like a credit card to pay for accommodation (I don’t have a credit card yet). Wise seems to be what I want but I’m not sure:
- Can you top up your Wise balance from your local bank account for free?
- Are conversion fees and ATM withdrawal fees abroad reasonable?
- Is their human support any good?
- How intrusive was the sign up and KYC?
I’d recommend searching about their fees this because it’s going to vary a bit based on your local currency. Their documentation on the topic is easy to read and answers your first two questions better than I could put it.
I’ve rarely had to interact with support so I couldn’t give a useful response about that in earnest. They do have local support in the two major countries in which I’ve interacted with them and it’s been fine.
The KYC process is standard for a digital money account AFAIK. I signed up in 2017 originally to handle a one-off transfer between local bank accounts in different countries, so I’d not have bothered investing much time in it if it was a hassle. I haven’t had to re-identify myself or think about it since, despite migrating across several countries, starting to use the physical card etc. I imagine I gave them my government ID though.
If you got crypto Bitrefill provides gift cards.
