A Stealthy New Threat to Your Credit Card Information?
A recent report from a Memphis news station warns of the latest risk to the safety of your credit card information: a super-stealthy computerized scanner that a tech-savvy thief could use to get your credit card digits while passing you on the street.
RFID Technology in Your Wallet
Here’s how the technology works, according to the story, and why it might pose a problem for ordinary consumers.
- RFID technology: Something called radio-frequency identification is commonly used in passports, credit cards and debit cards to facilitate transactions. Merchants can process information from RFID-enabled cards with a simple scan.
- Portable computing devices: Unfortunately, the technology that allows for quick transactions in the mall and at the airport also, it seems, opens the door to stealthy identity crimes. The news story mentioned above cautions that a person equipped with easy-to-purchase equipment could discretely scan people’s wallets for card information on the street.
- Potential identity theft: Clearly, having your identity stolen is not a pleasant experience – but being victimized by identity theft while you’re walking the streets and have your guard down can be both frightening and financially devastating.
Should You Be Worried about Mobile ID Theft?
The jury seems to be out on whether or not the potential for RFID-fueled identity crimes will actually translate into a rash of such crimes. An estimated 140 million Americans have some sort of card with RFID capabilities, though, generally speaking, you can guard against identity theft by taking certain precautions:
- Check your bank account regularly: Log on to your online account often and review your monthly statements carefully to make sure that no unusual activity is taking place. The more regularly you check your account balance, the more likely you’ll be to catch a withdrawal from an unauthorized source.
- Shred any sensitive documents: Though we’re well into the digital age, plenty of identity thieves still get their information by rummaging through the trash or recycling bins. Whenever you get documents with sensitive information on them (including your Social Security Number, your bank account numbers and your credit card number), shred them before disposing of them.
- Take only what you need: When you leave the house (especially for longer trips) limit yourself to only the credit cards you’ll absolutely need while you’re away. Limiting your chances of losing one or having one stolen is a smart way to play your odds.
- Change your passwords: If your passwords are easy to guess, change them. Even if they’re not easy to guess, still change them regularly.
The news story mentioned above highlighted the potential for this type of crime to lead to identity theft, but it also mentioned that no actual cases of such crimes have yet been reported – though that could be because the RFID scan theft is such a difficult technique to trace.
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