RFID wallets and sleaves , please don’t be fooled

Mhanch
01.02.16 1:45 PM

Today I turn on the tv and see HSN selling 2 RFID protectors for $40. The thing nobody selling these items talk about is that the majority of cards do not use RFID. If your card is not a card that can pay by just waving or tapping the card at the register then you do not have a RFID based card. The cards that have the chip embedded with the little golden section are usually NOT RFID. These are contact only cards.

If it requires you to insert the card it is not RFID .

Retailers should be ashamed at trying to benefit from misinformed consumers and trying to capitalize on the new chipped cards which are just smart cards without RFID. They are using misinformation to imply that all chipped cards can be read from a distance and as an engineer working with the tech I can assure you this is impossible.

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- OxJawHand
- 01.02.16 2:44 PM
YES, thank you! This grievance is long overdue.

The deceptive fear-mongering is unconscionable, and considering how under-represented women are in tech I find this sales pitch particularly insidious and predatory.

If you are unsure if you have cards that need RFID protection simply call your bank. Also, if you do have an RIFID-enabled card, many banks will replace them with the new plain smart chip card.

I really hope an HSN rep will address this here.

(This is even worse than when they tell you those anti-virus sticks can protect you from corporate data hacks. Yes, I once heard a rep say that their USB device would have protected you from the huge "bullseye store" data breech from a while back. That’s not how it works, but at least those sticks actually preform other functions of varing value.)
- IMaMadCuster
- 01.02.16 5:12 PM
Thank you for the information. I appreciate the honesty and reliability of your response.

I do hope HSN begins to be more honest in their presentations. I see misinformation, especially, in Electronics.
- ariel5
- 01.02.16 6:13 PM
Thank you. Interesting & helpful Information.

I have a question/inquisitive as I don’t understand the concept (except that there is a device that enables someone to retrieve yur card info. from a distance – even while yur at an ATM machine.

You wrote: "The cards that have the chip embedded with the little golden section are usually NOT RFID"

& "the new chipped cards which are just smart cards without RFID"

What does a smart card mean?

I had thought the reason for the ‘chip’ was to protect the ‘card’, in some way?

My card has a chip & requires either sliding the card thru the machine or put it into a slot & the Chip is read. I’ve not personally seen or experenced "a card that can pay by just waving or tapping the card at the register".

leads to my last question: The ability to put the Chip in a different section of the machine to be read, that is not the same as ‘waving’ the card to pay?

Appreciate your help!
- BEVJOY
- 01.02.16 11:26 PM
Part of your post says "If it requires you to insert the card it is not RFID."

I called my credit card company and they told me my card is RFID yet I am required to insert the card into the machine when I make a purchse. Maybe it depends on how new the credit card machines are?? Maybe all the stores don’t have the newest machine that will allow purchases by just waving or tapping your RFID card??