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RFID ROBBERY: BETTER JEWELERS AND THEIR CUSTOMERS CAN BE VICTIMIZED SIMPLY WALKING DOWN THE STREET | April 20, 2011 (0 comments)
Merrick, NY--We all know that new and advanced technology brings with it simplicity to our lives; but it always seems to come with a price – literally! After seeing this on TV and reading many articles about RFID credit card and identity theft, we thought it was time to educate better jewelry stores and designers on what it is and how you can protect yourself and your customer. At the end of this article, we provide an idea for stores to give the gift of RFID protection to their good customers, as well as reference links used for this piece.
RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology has simplified our lives by allowing us to have what the industry describes as “contactless payments”. Instead of handing our credit card over to a store clerk, for example, we now just need to swipe or wave the card in front of a special RFID reader, because embedded in our new credit cards is an RFID chip that contains all of our pertinent information, such as our name, account number and expiration date of our card.
Thieves can get ‘theft’ technology for under $100
Now for the frightening part, it seems that scanners that can read our cards are sold over the Internet for under $100. The “thief” in possession of these scanners can be as far as 10 feet away from you and can easily scan your wallet in your back pocket or purse and retrieve this information and then continue on his/her merry way to make fraudulent purchases.
In addition, identities can be stolen just as easily from your debit card as well as your passport, if these also contain an embedded RFID chip.
The New York Times reported that one of the UMass researchers, Tom Heydt-Benjamin, was able to buy electronic equipment online using information pulled off a contactless card sealed inside an envelope.
The "Today" show aired footage demonstrating another data capture, in which Heydt-Benjamin concealed the scanner in a briefcase and "read" data from a contactless credit card in another person's back pocket.
It does seem that some RFID card manufacturers are aware of this illegal practice and are implementing security features on their credit cards. But privacy advocates are not so sure that this has really solved the problem.
How to find out if we have RFID-chipped cards
First, you can determine if your credit card has the RFID chip embedded in it by looking for the logos BLINK, PayPass, expresspay or SpeedPass on your credit cards.
Second, Do a Google search with the name of the card and "RFID."
Third, you can contact your credit card company and ask for a card without the embedded RFID chip.
Once you are sure that your card is not just plastic, the next step is finding the chip. If you hold it up to the light and look at the glare, you should see an indentation somewhere, possibly underneath or near a logo indicating some sort of speedy checkout technology.
By passing on these tips on to your customer and perhaps, providing them with a solution, such as the Secure Blocking Sleeve, they will never forget how you went out of your way to protect them from this type of theft!
Offer Protection to Customers as a Thank You
Here’s an idea from The Centurion: Why not offer your customer protection against RFID theft by giving them a Secure Blocking Sleeve for their credit cards and related persona identification. You can offer a sleeve (with your logo and store info) as a thank you to your good customers. The prices range from $4.99 to $19.99. Click the links below for more information:
http://www.idstronghold.com/Credit-Card-RFID-Blocking-Sleeves/products/5/
The following links lead to articles on the web that were used in compiling this piece:
http://adr.enal.in/articles/de-rfid-your-credit-card
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Banking/CreditCardSmarts/NewCreditCardsAllowHandsFreeTheft.aspx