Don’t Get Robbed While Traveling
The thieves have known about this bank card theft for ages but your contactless cards can be read quite easily unless they are carried in one of these!
I purchased this neat little card wallet on a flight back to the UK recently and have since made further investigations after being alerted to this possible card theft fraud while traveling or even at your local shopping mall and I wanted to pass this on to my readers.
RFID or Radio Frequency Identification, which is often found as a little electronic chip and loop found in bank cards and also in passports too.
When you are making a normal purchase transaction you hold the card close to the machine and ‘bing’… your done!
However thieves are using portable machines and other types of detectors to either steal a payment there and then up to the credit limit of which it is £30 here in the UK, or perhaps using your credit card details for making other online purchases later!
STOP ELECTRONIC CARD THEFT WITH THIS
One business man who works for the international finance business showed me a photograph of a man with a portable card machine walking around a busy underground train in Russia who appeared to be trying to scan peoples bags, back and jacket pockets possibly taking payments as he did so.
He also related a more personal story to me about how he went to pay a restaurant bill using his own bank card but his wife had just put her handbag on the counter and by the time he had taken his card from his wallet his wife’s card had been picked up by the machine and paid the bill although her handbag was not that close to the machine.
He was surprised that the machine had read his wife’s card, but he now takes even more care when around such machines or contactless payment points.
Bearing this in mind and when we are traveling is when we tend to be in crowded, busy places so this little wallet could well be a great investment to prevent this new type of card theft. I for one now carry mine when on the move at home or abroad. The company have had the wallet tested and it does protect the cards and stops them being read by machines placed close by.
I have also heard of people wrapping their cards in aluminum foil to reduce the risk this does appear to work but, how much foil, how thick should it be, do I wrap it several times?
Although getting access to your card when you need it at a busy payment till could be rather tricky as you fumble to unwrap your bankcard as people around you think you are rather OCD perhaps?
I’ll opt for my Ögon wallet thank you very much!
https://www.ogondesigns.com
Source – Thanks to Geoff Moore :: Travel photographer, writer and blogger Geoff Moore has been a member of the British Guild of Travel Writers for 10 years and has traveled the world for over 30 years.
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