Contactless debit/credit cards

[Kenzie]

Just been reading an article about contactless payments, and it seems they have developed a way of modifying NFC equipped mobile phones to skim cards by just being near you. The limit on these is only £20 to spend, but it takes five transactions before the pin is required. So someone could go on a £100 mini spree without you knowing. There rfid blocking sleeves available or you could wrap that card in foil. Surprised this has only just popped up considering that this has been around a while. The can do it to Oyster cards as well but there isn't much to steal from them.

[Sir Trev]

Big fuss about this on Watchdog this week. I've had one for a couple of yeas and so far not had any issues. As I tend to use cash more than my cards these days after a few skims via petrol stations (never proved) I've never tried using the contactless feature.

You could cover your phone in foil.

You might miss a few calls though,

Im aware of this but i think realistically it happens very little unless perhaps you live and work in central london.

[MisterTommyH]

I use contactless all the time. No issues with it. When I put my Galaxy S2 on top of my wallet I often pick up a signal from the card..... the thing is that it's about having the code to get the information out of the NFC tag.

Also the thing about it being limited to £20 per transaction is that the onus/risk is on the bank / retailer for this kind of transaction, hence why it's so low.

Seems like a lot of fuss about nothing to me.