If that was our bank card stolen, we would have had our mortgage $$ wiped out. Yeah, we might get it back eventually, but how long would that take?

Paypal also has a virtual credit card feature. It’s not intuitive how to use it, but it can be used as a web app only, no download required. They want you to download the paypal toolbar thingy, but it’s not actually required to use the virtual credit card feature.

You can create 1 time credit card, with expiration date of the following month. This is good for sites that require a credit card when signing up, or where they offer a free month, then you forget to cancel.

Another feature is a 1 vendor only card, which is good only at a single vendor you use all the time, or for subscriptions. So, you can enter your virtual card # at MyFavoriteOnlineStore.com and know it can only be used at that merchant, even if an employee there steals your number and sells it to a thief.

It so easy to steal #’s and sell them. I can’t believe Visa and MasterCard don’t fix this problem. It’s got to be easy to track down who’s using it, but for the most part, they don’t care if the value is under the radar.

Here’s how I’m guessing they stole the #. Someone who had access to the # recorded it - could have been in person or online, who knows. They sell the # to bad guy 1. Bad guy 1 verifies it’s legit by making a $1 pending charge or actual charge. In my case, it was done at AutoZone in Virginia. Once determined it’s legit, they sell the valid # to another high bidder. Then, someone makes a credit card (can’t be that hard to get equipment to do that) with the stolen # embossed on it. They go to a store, in our case WalMart in Texas, and give the clerk the card. It doesn’t swipe properly, of course, because the mag stripe was “defective”. So the clerk manually enters it. Approved. But, this triggers the fraud alert, because normally, cards are swiped at Walmart, not manually entered. But, too late, the thief is already out the door with the goods. Visa could ask for the video to determine who it was, but they seem to not care because it’s only a few thousand $.

I don’t know if WalMart has to pay Visa back or not, but if they did, they’d have a stake in it to rid the world of these people.

I have to update the recurring subscription charges now, again. Pain in neck for me, but all Visa can say is “Sorry.” Fix it, I say.

Now that I use Mac, I’m a big fan of Safari 3 and have no problems with Flash whatsoever as far as I can tell.

Actually I have put $ limits on the VAN it generates, and been charged over the $limit. I complained and they said it should not have done that and they were sorry.

Also I have had one VAN used it more than one time.–When a merchant makes multiples charges on my order — ships one item and charges me, then the next day ships another….. so it is not fool proof.

I wonder if the merchants are charged a higher interchange when this happens.

Also I returned an item on which I had used a VAN, Citi somehow got involved and sent me a letter and reprimanded me for using a VAN and not to use it ever again as they are one time use only. I think they must have manual checking process when things are returned or disputed etc….

Recently read another incredible book that I can’t recommend highly enough, especially to all of you who also love Ray Kurzweil’s work. The book is “”My Stroke of Insight”" by Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor. I had heard Dr Taylor’s talk on the TED dot com site and I have to say, it changed my world. It’s spreading virally all over the internet and the book is now a NYTimes Bestseller, so I’m not the only one, but it is the most amazing talk, and the most impactful book I’ve read in years. (Dr T also was named to Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People and Oprah had her on her Soul Series last month and I hear they’re making a movie about her story so you may already have heard of her)
If you haven’t heard Dr Taylor’s TEDTalk, that’s an absolute must. The book is more and deeper and better, but start with the video (it’s 18 minutes). Basically, her story is that she was a 37 yr old Harvard brain scientist who had a massive stroke in the left hemisphere of her brain. Because of her knowledge of how the brain works, and thanks to her amazingly loving and kind mother, she eventually fully recovered (and that part of the book detailing how she did it is inspirational).

There’s a lot of learning and magic in the book, but the reason I so highly recommend My Stroke of Insight to this discussion, is because we have powerfully intelligent left brains that are rational, logical, sequential and grounded in detail and time, and then we have our kinesthetic right brains, where we experience intuition and peace and euphoria. Now that Kurzweil has got us taking all those vitamins and living our best “”Fantastic Voyage”" , the absolute necessity is that we read My Stroke of Insight and learn from Dr Taylor how to achieve balance between our right and left brains. Enjoy!