locked wallet

May 25, 2010

With today’s technology we take safeguards to protect our credit cards, identity, homes, cars, computers, and personal possessions, but how safe are our wallets? In today’s economic climate thieves are everywhere.  Pickpockets of today no longer have to come in contact with our persons to get our information, they can sit outside any mall, park, or home with a laptop and scanner and get all of your credit card, passport, drivers license, corporate id or gas card information can be obtained!

How you ask? Most credit cards, passports, drivers’ license, corporate id’s and such come with an electronic wireless chip that uses radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. These chips offer critical and personal information at just a swipe of a hand.  While they have allowed greater convenience, they allow greater risk of “skimming” our information. Skimming is the wireless access and/or copying of personal information from a distance. The researchers at the University of Massachusetts have shown they can access your credit card number, name, and expiration date from a distance of more than 20 feet away.

So how do you protect your valuable information? There is hope! There are wallets that come with DataSafe technology. What is this you ask and how expensive is it? Actually they are wallets that come with RFID shielding  material that protect the wallet from identity theft and tracking that completely blocks unwanted access to your sensitive information.