slightly offtopic: I am looking for a software recommendation that works with Garuda Linux in Germany. I am fine with commercial and paid software as long as it works reliably. I don’t want to use Paypal as the registration failed multiple times. I don’t like Paypal anyways.
So there are mainly two things that I am currently unable to do on Linux:
The first one is reading SMS from my surfstick’s SIM (I must use Windows for it), the other one issue in this post is about paying online with a bank card without using a phone. (I actually never try to pay with a credit card but some software vendors just do not provide other options. For example, I want to subscribe Genymotion.)
I enabled a TAN generation with my bank accounts (using a physical device with the card to read the OTP). With the tan generation, online payments with my debit cards (mastercard) are not possible with my banks, only when using a smartphone.
My user experience of the app has been horrible. From typing the long password with special characters (easy with a keyboard) to switching devices. I am not actively using a smartphone. The app solution makes sense for users who buy with their phone (even if the touch input method may lead to lazy passwords) but it’s a terrible idea for Desktop users. And my opinion is, phone interfaces are worse anyway.
Too much talk. Maybe someone has experience whether virtual credit cards can be used on Linux without a phone? If it weren’t for a credit card, it would simply work with TAN generation, e.g. using Sofort or Skrill (which enalbes payments without phone after registering with a phone number). Libera Pay, offered by Garuda, doesn’t even need a card.
This isn’t really anything to do with Garuda, but I’ll give my feedback.
Never use a bank card for online payments. Always use a credit card to avoid being defrauded and stuck with the bill. I don’t know about Germany, but in my country the onus is on the customer to prove they’ve been defrauded, and if they can’t they’re on the hook for all the money. With a credit card the customer has much more added protection. The bank has to prove the customer deliberately defrauded the bank, or the bank is the one responsible for all fraudulent payments on the card.
With a credit card the customer also has the extra protection of being able to apply for a “charge back” if a vendor was deceptive or they didn’t receive exactly what they had paid for online.
Using your bank card for electronic transactions is very risky and should be avoided if at all possible IMO.
One other thing to do if you dont want a credit card. is go to grocery chain or what ever wallmart like is there an you can get a visa card an put money on it. An while not as protected as a straight credit card your better off then with a bank card.
Thank you for your feedback. Yes, with “bank card” I meant “credit card” or “debit card”, I have mastercards from two banks. The interface is the same but the debit card withdraws immediately from the bank account. Due to “protections”, I cannot use the card without a phone, it’s hard to find anything using web search, and I’d like to know if anyone knows a working solution, e.g. a virtual credit card provider, which supports Linux or Garuda Linux without requiring a phone.
I have asked ChatGPT (always bewaring of trusting it, as it provided me with wrong information about unconventional needs). It gave a list of banks, available in Germany, which allegedly do not require a phone for online payments with credit cards:
[...]
1. Deutsche Bank: [...] it does offer a card-based authentication method rather than requiring a mobile phone.
2. Commerzbank: [...] may allow you to complete transactions using your card and a personal PIN or TAN.
3. Unicredit Bank (HypoVereinsbank): [...] uses a "SecureCode" for online payments, which works with the card itself rather than requiring a phone.
4. N26: [...] offers easy online payments with its virtual credit card, although it typically requires a one-time passcode for security purposes.
5. Revolut: [...] allows online payments using a virtual credit card and has alternative authentication methods that may not require a mobile phone for every transaction.
ChatGPT doesn’t understand by itself the real world meaning of its output and input, it maybe dreams up the phone-less authentication and lists German banks that it knows. I should ask N26 whether they support Linux-operated Desktops. All these mentioned TANs, passwords, one-time passcodes etc. could require a phone of course.
I also found Revolut before and their website looks like they require a phone app. (As my experience shows, secured phone apps do not run on emulators.)
Yep, this is more of a community question. I have been just asking around.
Depending on the amount you want to handle, a prepaid credit card might be an alternative. In Germany, however, you can forget about prepaid credit cards from gas stations etc., they are rarely accepted. But there are reputable providers and many German banks offer them. If that’s an option for you, ask your bank.
I have used Skrill in the past for paying without Credit Card. It is indeed one of the only providers that have phone-less authentication or login which is amazing (even if I think, the additional PIN is mostly useless for security). However, I had to register with a phone number once.
For the virtual credit card, I hat to verify myself to them, the only way to get it but it did not work, neither with emulator or webcam nor with a physical smartphone. (Their partner apparently uses machine learning for the verification process, I am not surprised if that is unreliable.) They require users to transmit a photo of the ID and the own face using a 3rd party service (that’s a very hard trade off for working online payment but I’ve read the terms). The usability was upsetting. I’ll request deletion of my data when the matters are done.