To prevent the theft of data or money, you need to create a shield that protects your contactless cards from being read by RFID scanners.  A shield works by blocking the propagation of electromagnetic waves, which prevents the interaction of an RFID reader with your cards. The RFID reader will not be able to read your cards while they are inside the case with RFID blocking.

What you need to make an RFID blocker

To make an effective RFID blocker, you will need the following materials:

• textile for the front part;
• fabric for lining;
• office supplies (glue, scissors, awl, pen, ruler);
• a thin sheet of RFID blocking material, for example, this material.

To prevent RFID reading, you will need a layer of special material.  We do not recommend using foil, it is not intended for shielding and will not be totally effective, we wrote about this in detail in this article.  As a basis, you can use a cloth that does not crumble and has a margin of safety.  For the outer cover, it is advisable to use a robust material like leatherette. A plastic cover from an office folder would also do.

Stages of manufacturing the cover

1. You need to cut two identical rectangles of leather, plastic or other material 9.5 cm by 7 cm each;
2. Prepare another pair of similar parts from the inner material and RFID blocking material;
3. Put the three layers together and glue them.  Allow the glue to dry;
4. Sew the three layers together at a distance of 1-1,5 mm from the edge on three of the four sides.

As a result, you should get a reliable case.  By the way, scammers can scan the credit card style keys for cars as well. This case works great with those too!

‘If you do not have enough time to make your own RFID blocking card holder, you can simply buy an RFID card blocking wallet or RFID blocking card to protect your important information from NFC technologies. After all, it is better to prevent unauthorised card scanning than to regret not protecting yourself.

Products from the article

RFID blocking wallet

RFID blocking card

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Whether you are shopping for groceries or paying for petrol, you can use contactless payments. COVID-19 has increased the desire to minimise contact. We use this even more often than before. Whilst contactless payments are quick and convenient, there is a niggling voice in the back of your mind. “Are contactless cards safe?”

What are contactless payments?

What are contactless payments? How does financial information get from your credit card to the reader?

Contactless payments can be a concept that is hard to comprehend. When we don’t fully understand something, it can make us feel vulnerable. So, how do contactless payments actually work?

RFID or NFC

Your contactless credit card has a chip within it, as well as a tiny antenna. The card reader makes connection to the card, with radio waves, much like you tune a radio to your favourite station. If you don’t tune it right or are too far away you can’t listen to it. The difference is that when the card reader sends radio waves, the credit card uses some of the energy it receives to power the chip. So that the credit card can talk back to the reader. This process is known as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) or Near Field Communication (NFC) or contactless for short!

Your card details are transferred to the card reader, which picks up the signal emitted from your card to process your payment. You can make contactless payments for purchases under £45 (in the UK). There is usually no such limit if you use contactless with your smartphone as an extra layer of security is required, such as fingerprint ID or PIN.

If you lost your debit card or contactless card was stolen, someone could use it to make small payments. Although the number of contactless payments that can be made in one day is limited. If your contactless card goes missing you should freeze it, or report it immediately to avoid contactless fraud.

Security concerns

You can’t open a newspaper, read a magazine, or watch the news without seeing a story about contactless card fraud, fraud purchase on credit card. Or you can hear the news that personal details being stolen or credit card data being hacked. It seems like it is getting harder and harder to keep our sensitive information safe. How exactly can we keep the information of our credit cards safe, if they are emitting radio waves for anyone to intercept?

Unfortunately, contactless card fraud is on the rise. Whilst not at the levels of credit card fraud generally, the believed losses to contactless card fraud were £5.6 million in the UK in 2017 and already more than £20.6 million in 2019. The United States leads as the most credit fraud prone country with 38.6% of reported card fraud losses in 2018. The United States accounted for $9.47 billion in fraud losses in 2018.

It can occur by a criminal getting close to you, and reading your card’s details through a radio frequency identification reader concealed within their clothing.

With contactless card fraud on the rise, you may be considering using your smartphone to make payments. This opens up additional concerns. Expensive phones brought into the open in a busy environment provides an opportunity for thieves. Furthermore, if you drop your smartphone whilst juggling shopping, a purchase for just a few pounds, may cost you hundreds.

So, what can you do to make safe and secure payment? In fact, safe card payment can be implemented quite simply.

Minimising contactless card security risks

Whilst the threat of theft of your card information may seem pretty concerning, there is no cause for paranoia. However, there is a way that you can minimise contactless card security fraud risk.

RFID card protector

The rise in the use of contactless cards has resulted in some developments from accessory brands to keep your information safe. One such brand is RFID-Cloaked, who have created a range of products which prevents both bank cards and security passes from being read by a wide range of radio frequencies.

RFIDsecur RFID Blocking Card will protect at the same time RFID cards with 13.56Mhz and 125khz frequency chips.

RFID blocking credit card protector made of ultra-thin material which is suitable for different types of contactless cards – bank cards, id cards, access cards etc.

‘If you are interested in any of the RFID blocking card protectors, take a look at our online-shop.

Edited in may 2020

The post Contactless card security risk. Can contactless payments be risk free? appeared first on RFID Cloaked - Protecting your RFID personal data.

These types of convenient payment cards do not need the users to input or authorise the transaction with a pin. Users are unable to stop this happening without already having bought RFID protection or shielding (RFID shield wallet or RFID shield card).

What you should do when an accidental RFID contactless payment happens

• Make a note of the date, time and location of the accidental contactless payment or transaction takes place. Keep any used tickets and receipts incase the service refuses to refund.
• Find your nearest member of staff or information point. Ask for information about disputing the contactless transaction error. Not all members of staff may know what to do, if this happens ask for complaints or a general enquiries telephone number and contact them.
• Are you using a travel service in London like the bus, Tube, tram, DLR, London Overground, TfL Rail, Emirates Air Line, River Bus and National Rail and have an online account? Login and check to see if you have been incorrectly charged. Note the transaction and register the dispute with Transport for London online. Or alternatively contact them by telephone 0343 222 1234 (call charges apply).
• If you are using Oyster travel card pay-as-you-go it is harder to prove ownership of the card when the transaction happened. So it is important you dispute the payment as soon as it happens with a member of staff.
• If you are unable to resolve the issue with the retailer or travel service, contact your bank with full details of the contactless payment and why you dispute the contactless payment giving full information. The bank can look into accidental payments on your behalf with the retailer/service.

How to prevent accidental contactless payments using RFID cards

• Most RFID contactless payment terminals work at short ranges. So keep your purse and wallets at least 20cm (8 inches) away from the terminal. Hacked or altered terminals and specialist readers can read up to 1.5m or further.
• Banks can send out VISA / MasterCards without contactless payment RFID chip included. Contact your bank and ask for one if you really do have concerns, but you will lose the convenience contactless payment brings.
• It is possible to render your bank card unable to use contactless payments by drilling through the chip inside the card. This is not recommended as you could damage the card so it is completely unusable, if you do this you will have to order another card from your bank and that could take time.
• A Faraday cage can block accidental contactless payments, and RFID payment cards. Conductive material such as aluminium foil, conductive paint, wire mesh, or any of a number of materials can block radio frequencies. Different materials are better and worse at blocking different frequencies. And the Faraday cage has to completely enclose the cards. So, no leaks or gaps, will mean no radio waves can get in or out, blocking the RFID signal. This method takes out the convenience out of contactless payment, it can work, but it’s not so easy to use.
• Purchase a good quality RFID blocking cards, wallets and purses. It must protect/shield 13.56 Mhz RF frequency. All RFID contactless payment cards use this international standard. If you have security cards or keyless passes these typically use RFID 125 khz. These are usually premium products and cost a bit more than a normal leather wallet or purse.

‘Do you want to learn more about contactless card protection? Read about this method of card protection.

How to get your money back

If you believe you have been a victim of contactless card fraud always, contact your bank immediately and to quote the Payment Services Regulations. These say that you must be refunded immediately if you are a victim of fraud.

If the bank can show that you were careless with your card and PIN or password, you will be liable for a maximum of £50, although many banks and building societies will waive this.

If that doesn’t work, then you can complain to the Financial Ombudsman.

Edited in June 2020

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