Abstract: A financial transaction card is packaged within a carrier which contains the card and prevents access to any indicia borne on the card (e.g., magnetic stripe, barcode, and the like) prior to activation of the financial transaction account associated with the card at the point of sale. The package bears no alternative indicia correlated with those borne on the card, and thus only the indicia on the card itself may be used for account activation. Such indicia are exposed at the point of sale by opening a section of the carrier to reveal the actual indicia borne on the card itself. Thus, any breakage of the carrier or other attempts to access the card within the packaging, prior to presentation of the packaged card for activation at the point of sale, is evidence of tampering of the package. In a preferred embodiment, the package is a simple three-panel, partially perforated construction that provides substantial security for the packaged card, at minimal manufacturing cost.