The upcoming Easter Sunday and Good Friday is an important day for many and since it falls on the holiday long weekend many people spend their time at large festival events. Whatever your faith, the weekend is bound to provide extra crowds and gatherings of people which is unfortunately the ideal target for thieves who are using increasingly deceptive methods to steal credit card details from oblivious passer-byes. Until recently, the little talked about practice known as RFID or NFC theft is becoming increasingly common as it allows thieves to steal your personal credit card information without you even knowing you were a victim of theft.
RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) is the technology that credit card companies use to allow you to purchase retail goods and services through the ‘contact-less’ payment system where you no longer need to put your card in a reader and enter a PIN. The technology used means that a microchip in your credit card is constantly emitting a signal out to the world so that when a shop where you make a contact-less payment has a scanning device it can read your details and debit your card without any physical contact being made.
The problem arises that the scanning technology used can be copied by thieves and as long as they are in close proximity to the card holder, it is just as easy for them to steal your information as it would be when you offered to pay in the shop.
Encryption of details does not help in this case as the thieves simply copy the encrypted scanned information onto a new magnetic strip and they have a card that holds all the same information as the original. Crowds and gatherings during holiday periods are the ideal place for thieves to target as they are then able to anonymously steal dozens of card details whist melting seamlessly into the crowd.
Although the scale of this problem is growing ever larger, the solution for credit card users who possess cards that contain the RFID chip is relatively simple. To block the signal from your credit cards whilst you are carrying them requires you to place the cards in what is known as a Faraday cage. This consists of a wire mesh that disrupts the signal that your cards make and make it unreadable to the prying scanners of thieves who may be lurking nearby.
A spokesperson for Hugh B Hamilton, manufacturers of an all leather RFID blocking wallet for men explained, “When people learn that they need to put their cards in a Faraday Cage to protect them from thieves it all sounds really complicated. So we have made it simple. Our wallet, which looks like a normal designer, all leather wallet incorporates the technology to keep your credit cards safe. Use it just as you would any other wallet safe in the knowledge that you are no longer beaming you identity out to potential thieves.” The Hugh B Hamilton RFID blocking wallet for men is an all leather stylish wallet to hold cash and ID as well as six credit card slots. The wallet contains within its fabric a wire mesh Faraday cage so that the credit cards are protected from unwanted scans by thieves.
