Fashion

[NiteStar]

RFID BLOCKING WALLETS: TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE?

STORY BY JESSICA ELIZABETH PAWLARCZYK

Published: May 11, 2013

To put it bluntly, yes.

Many brands of RFID (radio-frequency identification) blocking wallets and purses promise consumer protection without quantifying exactly what their product “covers…” And for good reason.

Unlike a birth control that can boast 98 percent effectiveness in preventing pregnancy, RFID blocking devices can’t say much of anything. So they don’t.

This older Consumer Reports article explains that in June, 2011, no truly effective RFID blocking commercial products could be bought on the market. Although these products could make it more difficult for an electronic reader to read a credit card’s data, they could not entirely block the data transmission.

Wallets used in the experiment were made from “stainless-steel material,” lead, copper, iron, and aluminum.

Two years later, these are the same materials that companies use to construct their RFID shields, which can mean only one thing: The outrageously overpriced aluminum wallet you just bought off of Amazon may be no better than a strip of duct tape.

“Our reporter offered her own homemade shield constructed of duct tape and lined with aluminum foil,” Consumer Reports writes in its article. “It provided better protection than eight of the 10 commercial products, including a stainless-steel ‘RFID blocking’ wallet selling online for about $60.”

Yikes. You now have my permission to stop reading this article and frantically sort through your old pile of online shopping receipts.

If you do continue reading, however, you will at least find some solace in the fact that there is one free and easy way to protect yourself from RFID fraud: Place your credit cards backwards in your wallet slots so that the RFID tag is facing inwards and not outwards. It’s that simple.

If you want a 100 percent effective method for avoiding RFID theft, you can also resort to this no-brainer: Contact your credit card company and ask for a copy of your credit card that does not have the special chip. (Warning: This may involve extra fees.)

So if you’re looking to keep your money in your non-aluminum wallet like me, simply outsmart the electronic reader by putting your credit and debit cards in backwards. Then, if you have some extra time, grab a hammer, go to youtube and search “how to disable RFID chip.”

I promise you’ll have fun.

[KingstonsMom]

Thank you for this info! I was recently considering buying one of those wallets, now I won't waste my money.

[GinaV24]

Super article!  thanks for the information -- I was looking at wallets the other day wondering if I should spring for an RFID type and thinking, geez,  how do I really know?

The tip about putting cards in backward is awesome -- I love simple solutions!

thanks very much

[VioletEyes]

All of my credit cards were compromised at the beginning of the year and I reported it to the police. They told me those wallets were not something that would have prevented what happened. I ended up closing all my cards but two and both of them have a chip in them. So far, so good. The wallets apparently are not effective.

Thanks for confirming that.

[jonbon]

Thanks for sharing this -- it was, indeed, very interesting!!

[icezeus]

Thanks for the tips.It was an interesting read.

[Still Raining]

Just because you have a "chip" does not mean you have a chip that is even transmitting.  If you have to slide your card, you are not at risk.  It is only the cards you tap that put you at risk.  There are also a very few states that are issuing licenses that transmit, but they warn you.  Same with passports.  Just another deceptive sales method.  Really sleazy of QVC.

[Andreatoo]

the article was written 2 years ago sourced from information 4 years old.....

Show me something current and I'll be concerned.

[songbird]

I have always wrapped foil over my cards.  I still do.  Never occurred to me to get a special protection wallet.

[Wackers3]

One of my credit cards was compromised a few months ago and while dealing with it,  I asked one of the reps in my bank's fraud unit how concerned they were regarding these new credit cards being vulnerable to swiping. The response was that they don't anticipate this becoming any kind of real threat to consumers while the benefit from these new cards is going to significantly reduce the risk we have been enduring from companies experiencing security breeches ((Target, Home Depot, etc)

In their view, the risk to consumers is going to drop considerably with the switch and the fraud departments are really looking forward to it.

Her comment about those selling RFID technology and stressing how vulnerable we all are going to be sounds more like a hard sell not supported by the reality.    I found her comments very enlightening.