Thursday, December 16, 2010

Now Thieves can steal your credit card simply by standing next to you

New credit cards and debit cards have what is called an RFID chip in them.

The RFID chip in a credit card emits the account number, expiration data and other information.

About 100 million credit cards now have this contactless technology embedded into them. However, over the next 2-3 years, it is expected that credit card issuers will replace every single magnetic stripe credit and debit card with a new contactless smartcard.

This technology update will enable you to use your credit card without ever needing to take it out of your pocket.

But watch out ! Thieves are quick to jump on this technology upgrade which makes their job so much easier. These new tech criminals are called SKIMMERS and what they can do to you will scare the life right out of you. If it doesn't they will certainly scare the life out of your credit card.

How does it work ?

SKIMMERS have a device which by doing as little as passing by you in a shopping center which will read your credit card number and expiration date of your card.

It's basically a small computer and as the SKIMMER walks by you and others, it stores the information of every card he or she passes by that day.

Later when they get home is when they do series damage to your account without you even knowing about it.

But you can protect yourself against this, companies are now offering cases for your credit card which will block the RFID signal. You can get these for as little as $3, which in my opinion is money well spent. This doesn't protect you against a SKIMMER who may be standing beside you in line when you pull it out to use it at the store.


I have a feeling this type of crime is going to skyrocket in the next year.

Consider yourself warned !




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