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Black Friday, Card Creepers, and Aluminum; Oh My!

author Michael Berman
2 min read
Nov 19, 2015

The Season of Perpetual Hope also comes with its share of creepers, thieves, and hi-tech criminals all out for one thing – your identity!

A glimmer of hope in this hackable world began to shine on October 1, 2015, when the issuance of EMV “chipped” credit cards became mandatory.  These specially equipped cards feature a radio-frequency identification chip on the card itself which is scanned at retail outlets, using special readers.  Nothing to fear, right? Wrong!

The EVM rollout has been much slower than anticipated with only 250 million chipped cards issued, and all of those chipped cards still have the magnet strips on them. Why? Because very few retail outlets have the ability to read the new hi-tech credit/debit cards and must rely on the same old breach-able magnetic strip.

Clever creepers rejoice! These high-tech thieves are using $100 devices, purchased online (probably with stolen data) to capture credit card information from mid-air as far away as 25 feet.  Your wallet or handbag is no protection for such devices either. These electronic pickpockets steal your credit card data through leather and cloth; you don’t feel a thing.

A Houston news investigator decided to test this device with the help of a National Crime Stop Program representative at a local mall. They were able to capture the credit card information from 39 people in under 15 minutes. Your information could be next!

So what do you do? Black Friday is next week and you were planning on waiting in a long line outside a mega box store for a $200 60” 1080p television! That bargain can cost you everything if you don’t take precaution. One way to prevent Creepers from stealing your hard earned credit is with a force field!

Sounds like a comic book method, but there are a few ways to wrap your financial life in protection.  One way is with a device called “Signal Vault,” developed by Chris Gilpin and his team at the National Crime Stop Program.  The $15 “Signal Vault” looks like an ordinary plastic credit card but works like a force shield around all your debit and credit cards, blocking electronic transfers of information from your wallet to the Creepers scanner.  You can also use an aluminum wallet, just make sure it is 100% aluminum.

Alternatively, you can throw style out the window, grab some aluminum foil from the leftovers and wrap your credit cards in it before placing them in your wallet or handbag. After all, Black Friday shopping shouldn’t make your holidays blue!

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