ORLANDO, Fla. — Thieves can get your credit card numbers and without even touching your wallet. WFTV found out how they can do it, which cards they can target, and how you can protect your information.
One man, who didn't want to give his name, agreed to an experiment he couldn't believe.
"Pick up your credit card while we're talking. Would that surprise you?" WFTV reporter Josh Benson asked the man.
"That would surprise me," he replied.
He didn't see anyone pick his pocket. Neither did an Orlando police officer. So, he couldn't figure out how we got his number.
"That's your full credit card number, your expiration date, and you've been a valid customer since 2005," Benson said.
"That's pretty strange," he replied.
Security analyst Walt Augustinowicz of Identity Stronghold said there's nothing strange about it. You just need a basic credit card scanner.
"We basically built a little kit, fits in a case for about $100," Augustinowicz said.
It only takes two or three seconds.
"Is that your number?" Benson asked.
"Yes," he replied. "Sick."
A person with the scanner doesn't even have to touch you. He just needs to walk near you.
WFTV got credit card numbers for 12 of the 25 people in downtown Orlando who agreed to the experiment
"That's spooky," a participant said. "I don't like it."
Roughly half of the credit cards in Central Florida have Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chips. Look for a symbol on credit cards, debit cards and passports; when magnetized, they can transmit name, code, and expiration date.
"Everything we need to make a purchase," Augustinowicz said.
Or it can be used to steal your identity; passports can also transmit your date of birth and digital picture.
"There goes your accounts, there goes your money, there goes your credit," Augustinowicz said.
WFTV could not confirm any local victims of digital pickpockets, but, then again, victims wouldn't know that's how they were hacked.
"They come up with something; we gotta come up with a deterrent," Detective Alfred Jones told WFTV.
Augustinowicz said you can block hackers by wrapping your cards in foil. He also makes protective sleeves which he has sold to the U.S. government.
Most new credit cards use RFID chips, and within a couple of years they'll be in nearly everyone's wallet.
WFTV asked the major credit card companies about the issue. VISA replied with a lit of security features designed to protect against theft and fraud.
You can read VISA's full statement here.
For more information on purchasing a security sleeve visit Identity Stronghold at: http://www.idstronghold.com