My debit card has some sort of RFID chip in it - the bank is promoting ‘contactless payment’ where, for small items, you can pay by just waving the thing near the reader - no PIN entry, no signature - pay and go.
This worried me a bit at first - I was thinking that someone could just wave a reader past my ass pocket and start charging me for things, but I can’t see that being a risk - in order to charge my card, you’d need to be set up as a vendor, with a business relationship with the bank or card issuer, which is traceable (or at least means that I can challenge suspicious transactions).
ETA: I think it’s really unlikely that an unmodified iPad would have an RFID reader in it, given that it lacks a number of far less esoteric features.
On a recent trip to Europe, I was told that credit cards issued in Europe now all have a chip rather than a magnetic strip because the magnetic strips, still used on U.S. cards, are much less secure.
I was also told that fewer and fewer vendors in Europe accept U.S. credit cards and this seemed to be the case, although I had no problems at larger establishments that cater to tourists.
If you don’t want to replace the entire wallet, you could go with something like this. It’s pretty much the same thing that the SoW gave me with my enhanced driver’s license (after making me confirm that I’d read their disclaimers on RFID and biometric data).
Some catalogs (IIRC Duluth Trading) sell a “last forever” wallet made from cloth woven from stainless steel thread. Others sell a security box for credit cards that looks a lot like an Altoids tin.
In theory, credit card chips can’t be read, except from very close range. In practice, I have to make sure to put the exact spot on the card on the spot on the reader.
However, I remember reading about a guy standing on a balcony with a bluetooth receiver. He was intercepting cell and BlackBerry calls from a quarter mile away. Is it too much to expect, that somebody will find a way to read your card from a few feet away?
I’ve seen a real Faraday Cage, where I worked. I don’t think you need to go that far to isolate your credit card.
My father-in-law sent a link to a news clip showing a reporter, and a guy from a company that makes RFID-blocking wallets etc., demonstrating to people in a crowd that he could read their card info by holding something near their wallet. So it’s a legit concern, though there aren’t that many credit cards in the US (yet) that have the chips. There’s a special emblem that looks like radio waves on cards that have the chip.
For what it’s worth, the company makes ID card holders that block the RFID, even though the holder is open-faced. Not sure how this works, but I guess the blocking technology is in the back. Maybe the radio waves have to penetrate a bit through the card (as in, past the back surface) to read the chip. We have some of the badge holders and they do work.
I would question the veracity of a company’s report on the ability to steal the info if said company is also in the business of selling an item to prevent the theft.