Got an email from a friend warning me about people with nefarious plans (and apparently using IPADs) who can ‘scan’ my credit cards while still in my wallet as I wander thru crowded areas.
So my questions, since this is the first I’ve heard of it:
I didn’t know my regular, wallet-sized credit cards had rfid chips in them. Is this true? I assume there are rfid chips in those ‘easy pass’ things that you put on your keychain and wand past gas pumps, etc. But I don’t have any of those.
Ipads can read rfid? I would think you’d need some sort of scanner attached, but that I’m in no danger from an individual ipad, etc. I guess if they persist in rubbing their devices on my butt, I should get concerned (or maybe buy them a drink).
If I were to invest in the lead-lined wallet my friend is advocating, how would the TSA react to seeing this in the Porno-Scan? I’d prefer to leave the airport sans handcuffs.
Thanks to any and all who can answer this. A preliminary search on snopes doesn’t turn up anything.
It doesn’t say what their “Faraday cage” is made out of. If it is something like copper foil it will do a pretty darn good job of blocking RFID.
I don’t know why the OP’s buddy insists on a lead lined wallet. Maybe he thinks that RFID works with X-rays or something, or just doesn’t understand the difference between radiation shielding and radio wave shielding.
Maybe the OP should get their friend one of these:
“Lead-lined” was meant as sort of hyperbole. Should’ve used a smiley.
My normal gas station touts its easy-pass capability. Next time I fill up I’ll try waving my credit cards at the pump to see if it accepts any of them. I figure that’s a good test, right?
I’ve worked with RFID devices. The chip itself is very small; about a millimeter. The antenna is usually a lot larger it you want to be able to read it at a decent range.
The RFID reader uses magnetic induction to induce a current through the antenna into the RFID chip and almost any metal will interfere with the signal on a passive tag. Based on this video it appears there is almost no shielding on the new RFID Passports.
My wells fargo visa has no bumps or anything. Just a logo in the upper left corner. sort of four )))) with each one getting bigger from left to right. I am pretty sure it is an rfid easy pass sort of thing. I personally haven’t used it so it is possible the logo means something else.
iPads do NOT have RFID readers built in. If they did there would be some sort of appurtenance for it and an RFID scan button somewhere to activate it. However, that is not to say that someone couldn’t fit an RFID attachment to it in the comm port in the bottom.
I don’t have it with me, but I didn’t request an RFID-equipped card. It just came in the mail one day (as a replacement) with paperwork telling me about the wonderful new world I was a part of. So, to me, it was just a “standard credit card.”
They’re rolling out the RFID cards in “selected markets” It makes sense to push out the cards & the card readers together, and they’ll get better test results if lots of people & lots of retailers in the same area have both halves of the puzzle.
