Contactless payment has seen a massive rise to £2.3 billion in one year, an enormous change that demonstrates how many people are prepared to take on new technology and ways of doing things. This maybe the way to the “cashless” society that has been talked about for years, they are almost there in the Nordic countries.
Is there a drawback? Is fraud possible from your pocket? With contactless you pay for your coffee in the morning by holding your card to the terminal, simple and easy. How about if someone holds a terminal close to your pocket or handbag, can they get you to pay money without you knowing it? So I “Googled” Tap and go fraud. Yes it is possible and surprise, surprise it looks like there is a problem in Australia; here are a couple of reports from November 2014.
Rise of 'Tap and Go' technology means hi-tech thieves can now wirelessly pick your pocket
Police want ban on tap and go technology, saying sloppy practices can promote crime
I think the argument is that while this is possible the incidence is so low it is not a problem! I suppose it doesn’t matter, the thief can only steal £20 at a time!
My wife bought a new purse last year, one that had “RFID blocking technology”, perhaps that was a good move.
There are two reasons for writing this post, the first is to reassure users of Keyzapp that our NFC chips are not open to financial fraud as there is no connection to any financial transaction; the key fob chip only provides the key fob identity to the system. The second is to remark on how quickly this technology is moving into our day to day lives; Keyzapp is one of the first, others will follow soon.
In the meantime take care of your contactless cards.