A well-known scam continues to claim victims, mainly in public places. Be careful how you store your bank card.
Having your bank card handy is very practical when you’re shopping and don’t want to take your wallet out of your bag. And when you’re in a hurry, you tend to slip it into a trouser pocket, a small bag or the inside pocket of your handbag. But the way you store your bank card can be expensive.
Indeed, scammers take advantage of people’s inattention to steal their money. They usually take action in public places, such as public transport or shopping centres. To do this, they use an electronic box that can be used as payment when they get a little too close to their victims. In fact, it only takes about fifteen centimetres for this contactless payment scam to work. Since no code is required, they simply have to take small amounts and position themselves as close as possible to be credited.
According to the Banque de France, more than 473 million euros have already been stolen from French people’s accounts in 2020 with this bank card fraud, specifies Capital. If you regularly check your accounts and notice that amounts debited seem unusual to you, it is possible to dispute these sums and be reimbursed by your bank.
To protect yourself from this type of scam, it is advisable to store your bank card in your bag, inside a wallet, among other RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) cards, to confuse the terminal a little. The device will not know which card to debit and this will cause an error message. Another tip: use a card holder offered by banking establishments. These accessories to store in your bag have the advantage of blocking the RFID signal.