If you're skittish about providing credit card numbers to online retailers, you're not alone. As much as 75 percent of online shoppers share your concern, prompting the charge-card industry to devise some novel solutions.

American Express now thinks it has a way to ease shoppers' worries: on Thursday it unveiled a security measure to cloak credit card information during online purchases.

The company's "Private Payments" Web initiative is designed to limit the damage done by stolen credit card numbers. Starting this month, cardholders will be able to log on to a secure part of American Express's Web site, free of charge, and receive a one-time-use credit card number to shop online. The assigned number will be randomly generated by American Express and can be used only once at Web stores accepting American Express cards.

Consumers fear having credit card numbers ripped off in cyberspace because those numbers are starting points for mining even more personal information, such as home addresses, social security numbers, and passwords. "Fraudsters generally start with one piece of information and build from there," says Alfred J. Kelly Jr., American Express group president for U.S. consumer and small business services.

The new system will allow cardholders to shop the Web "incognito," Mr. Kelly says, and that will help now-hesitant online shoppers in "pulling the trigger." "We want to turn those browsers and shoppers into buyers," Mr. Kelly says.

FEAR AND WITHHOLDING

The move addresses one of the biggest impediments to the growth of online shopping: the fear of online credit card theft. It also underscores American Express's desire to be seen as an Internet trendsetter for the charge-card industry.

Outsmarting online fraud is an industry priority. Consumer fear is holding e-commerce back, perhaps by several billions of dollars, according to research from Jupiter Communications.

Thieves have recently had plenty of opportunity. A privacy breach this week on the Web site of home furnishings retailer Ikea, for example, exposed customer contact information. Ikea responded by shutting down a portion of its site. Earlier this year, a hacker broke into a CD Universe database to demand $100,000 in exchange for stolen customer names, addresses, and credit card numbers.

American Express hopes to prevent online credit card fraud up front with its Private Payments system, designed especially for its individual and small-business cardholders. Providing such protection will also be a selling point for new customers, Mr. Kelly says.

Merchants, especially those online, could also use the protection. Unlike brick-and-mortar retailers, online merchants usually cover the costs of fraudulent transactions. Banks that issue cards used fraudulently in physical stores usually pick up the tab for illegal transactions.

BLUE CHIP COMPANY

This is the latest American Express initiative aimed at creating secure online shopping. A year ago, the company launched its "Blue" credit card, designed specifically for Web shopping on PCs. The card, which contains a computer chip, can be used with a card reader that ensures its authenticity.

American Express is planning more antifraud initiatives. Mr. Kelley describes them vaguely as a "suite" of products to be rolled out later this year.

An American Express partner in developing the forthcoming products is Privada, a privately-held, three-year-old San Jose, California, company. Privada creates digital security technology for Internet service providers. It's working with American Express, which holds a minority stake in Privada, to launch a secure browser by year's end, says Privada president and CEO Rick Jackson.

The browser for American Express will keep online shoppers' identities secure by creating "psuedo-identities," according to Mr. Jackson. "It prevents anyone from being able to correlate who you are in the online world to who you are in the real world," he says.

"We have been continuing to develop and research areas on the Web where we can close the gaps," Mr. Jackson says. "And the biggest gap on the Web today is e-commerce."

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