FOX 4 WFTX - Cape Coral, Fort Myers, Naples News, WeatherHoudini Hackers steal your credit card without ever touching your wallet!
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Charge it, Swipe it, no matter what you call it people seem to use plastic for most everything now a days. So, when you pull your credit card out to make a purchase and then stick it back into your wallet do you think your card's safe? If so, think again!
Walt Augustinowicz, an Englewood man, trying to help people prevent identity theft says thanks to new technology called RFID's, or Radio Frequency Identification, millions of credit cards out there are contact free.
"You can actually scan them right through your wallet or your purse," he says. Adding "they're supposed to make things quicker and easier."
And while not all credit or debit cards have the chips right now, he says eventually they'll be used in all of your plastic, likely making life easier for crooks.
"Now they just have to walk by you and get close to you. They don't have to touch you so it's a lot easier," says Augustinowicz.
How can crooks steal your info if they don't ever touch your card?
A simple scanner. The kind you see at gas stations and grocery stores.
You can find them on E-bay for anywhere from $10 to $30.
Walt shows Four In Your Corner just how easy it is to use the scanners.
He puts a card with an RFID chip in his wallet and then into his back pocket. When he picks up the scanner and puts it an inch from his pocket, it beeps, and the information, including card number and expiration date pop up on the computer screen.
And if you think you don't have a card with one of the chips inside -- Double Check!
Four In Your Corner's Amy Wegmann didn't think she had one of the cards, but a quick swipe of the scanner near her wallet proves otherwise. Augustinowicz reads off her full credit card number, name and expiration date of the card with the RFID inside!
So, how can you protect yourself?
Augustinowicz says you can ask you credit card company or bank for a card without the chip, but he says some don't offer or make them anymore. That's why he came up with shielding sleeves produced by his company, Identity Stronghold.
Basically, they're small sleeves that you put your credit card, debit card or passport inside. The sleeve blocks the RFID from being read. His product is so powerful even government agencies are jumping on board to protect you.
"The U.S. Passport card comes with it. The drivers license in Vermont comes with it," he says. And the list doesn't stop there.
While crooks might not be able to swipe all of your personal information from the RFID chips, Augustinwicz reminds you even one piece to the puzzle is too much.
"People build a portfolio on you and that's how they commit bigger identity theft. Once they know you're date of birth, where you live, things about your name they can figure out other things and then they can get new credit cards in your name," he warns.
If you'd like to find out more about Identity Stronghold, based in Englewood, just click on the BIG RED FOUR at www.fox4now.com
