Is Your RFID Credit Card Making You an Easy Fraud Target?

Published

March 14, 2011

A consumer advocate, Beverly Blair Harzog focuses on credit card issues and provides insight about current news that affects the credit card industry and consumers. She's a nationally recognized expert on credit card issues and is also the co-author of Confessions of a Credit Junkie. Visit Beverly at BeverlyHarzog.com.

Credit cards with RFID chips are getting a lot of attention lately, but they really aren’t that new.

In 2005, J.P. Morgan Chase introduced a “contactless” credit card embedded with an RFID chip and called it “Blink” technology. An RFID (radio frequency identification) credit card has a radio frequency microprocessor embedded in it. It’s a “read-only” chip that contains your personal credit card information.

When you check out at the register, you wave it within a few inches of an RFID-enabled terminal. The information on your card is transmitted via radio waves. The terminal reads the data and your purchase is processed.

This technology is also present in other parts of our daily lives. Do you have a card that lets you drive through a tollbooth without stopping? That card uses RFID technology. The difference with credit cards is that the embedded RFID chip only works when it’s within 1–4 inches of a reader.

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Believe it or not, you might have one of these cards without even knowing it. Most of these cards look like any other card. They’ve got the magnetic stripe on the back so the card can also be swiped to pay for purchases.

How to find out if you have an RFID credit card

At first, I thought this part would be easy. Numerous articles told me to look for “four waves,” which are supposed to make us think of radio waves.

I wish I could say it was that simple. Retailers who take RFID cards use the “waves” icon as a common acceptance symbol, but RFID identification on credit cards isn’t standardized. On Visa’s RFID card, which is called payWave, you will, indeed, find four waves on the card. But on American Express, “ExpressPay” is the term you should be looking for on the back of your card if you want to know whether it uses RFID technology. If you have a MasterCard with an RFID chip, you’ll see “PayPass” on the front.

If you’re confused—and who can blame you?—call your issuer and ask if you have an RFID credit card. Really, identifying these cards shouldn’t be this hard.

Next: Do RFID credit cards put you at risk for identity theft or fraud? »

Image: Shockadelic

Do RFID credit cards put you at risk for identity theft or fraud?

This is the part we’re all curious about, right? According to RFID.org, RFID technology can be read through the human body, clothing and nonmetallic materials. The human body? Not sure I want to pursue exactly what that means, but a recent demonstration shows how RFID cards can easily be read if someone gets close enough to you.

Security expert Walt Augustinowicz made the news after he was able to “read” credit card numbers from wallets and handbags while walking along a busy street. He bought a $100 reader online and, armed with a Netbook, got close enough to people to get their card information.

But even if someone can steal your credit card account number, can they use the information to buy purchases or steal your identity? The Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) keeps a watchful eye on these things. The ITRC recently issued a release about the safety of RFID credit cards saying, “…it is apparent so far that although scanning the card can be done, getting all the necessary information useful to commit fraud is probably not easy.”

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I noted that they said committing fraud is “probably not easy.” The ITRC says that some RFID manufacturers have implemented security features, such as encryption and authentication codes. But I don’t think anyone wants to come out and say they’re definitely secure. The payment networks, such as Mastercard, Visa, American Express, and Discover, say that the multiple layers of security prevent fraudsters from using the data they retrieve.

If you’re worried, there are secure sleeves you can buy to prevent your card numbers from being read. Or, you can line your wallet with aluminum foil. At this point, I don’t think we need get in panic mode about this, but I like knowing that the ITRC will continue to monitor these cards. For now, if you have an RFID credit card, the best course of action is to regularly check your account online. And take notice if someone gets way too close to you on a busy street or in a crowded mall.