A virtual credit card is a temporary, digitally generated card number linked to your real credit account. It exists only as a string of digits — no physical plastic — and is typically used for online purchases where you want to protect your real card number from exposure. If the virtual number is stolen or compromised, you cancel it without affecting your primary account or needing to replace a physical card.
Virtual cards are common in the US market, but Canada is still catching up. Fewer Canadian issuers offer virtual card programs compared to US counterparts, though options are available and growing. Here is what Canadians need to know about virtual cards in 2025.
Every time you enter your credit card number on a website, you create a potential exposure point. If the retailer is breached — as has happened to major Canadian retailers, US department stores, and countless smaller e-commerce sites — your card number can be harvested and used fraudulently.
Virtual card numbers solve this by creating a single-use or merchant-specific card number that links to your real account but is separate from your actual card number. A fraudster who steals the virtual number gets a useless string of digits — either it has already been used and discarded (single-use), or it only works at the specific merchant it was created for.
Virtual cards in Canada come in two flavours:
Single-use numbers: Generated for one transaction. Used once, then automatically disabled. Ideal for one-time purchases at unfamiliar retailers. No risk of reuse even if the number is stolen.
Merchant-locked numbers: Tied to a specific merchant. Can be used multiple times at that merchant (good for recurring subscriptions) but will decline if someone tries to use it elsewhere. Ideal for subscriptions you want to lock to a specific amount.
Virtual card availability from Canadian issuers is more limited than in the US, where services like Privacy.com offer virtual cards for any bank account. Canadian options as of 2025:
KOHO: KOHO's prepaid Mastercard integrates well with Apple Pay and Google Pay for online transactions, which provides tokenized card numbers — a form of virtual card number. While not single-use virtual cards in the traditional sense, tokenized numbers offer similar protection because the token is different from your actual card number.
American Express Canada: Amex does not publicly advertise a virtual card program in Canada at this time, though their app allows easy freezing and unfreezing of physical cards.
Apple Pay and Google Pay as Virtual Numbers: When you add a Canadian Mastercard or Visa to Apple Pay or Google Pay, the device generates a tokenized Device Account Number (DAN) — a virtual number tied to your physical card. Online purchases made through Apple Pay or Google Pay use this token, not your actual card number. If a merchant is breached and the token is stolen, it cannot be used outside of your device without biometric authentication.
KOHO's prepaid Mastercard provides a different type of protection from virtual cards. Because it is prepaid, the maximum exposure from any breach is limited to the balance loaded on the card — not your entire credit limit or bank account. If KOHO's virtual card number is stolen and fraudulently used, the attacker can only access the prepaid balance, and KOHO's fraud protection typically reverses unauthorized transactions.
This is fundamentally safer than a traditional credit card for online shopping with unfamiliar retailers. Even if fraud occurs, the exposure is capped and reversible. For Canadians who do a lot of online shopping and want to limit risk, KOHO functions as a natural spending buffer.
Privacy.com is a popular US virtual card service that generates single-use and merchant-locked virtual cards. Unfortunately, Privacy.com requires a US bank account and is not available to Canadians. Some Canadian residents use it while maintaining a US bank account, but this is not accessible to most.
If a dedicated virtual card is not available to you, these practices significantly reduce fraud risk on Canadian cards:
The Canadian market is moving toward better virtual card support as fintech companies expand and the large banks modernize their digital offerings. Several digital-first banks are expected to introduce full virtual card programs in the next year or two. In the meantime, the combination of tokenized digital wallet payments and prepaid cards covers the security needs of most Canadian online shoppers.
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