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Other Backpack phone scanners

blackxacto

blackxacto

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jun 15, 2009
1,240
145
Middle TN
I have an iPhone SE 32gb. I have activated Apple auto pay through my bank checking account. Can a backpack scanner record my autopay info, if he gets close enough (like an accidental bump)?
Also I have a wallet that says it is made with the material that will block scanners. Do I need to worry/do something further to protect my money/phone?
 
The best part of Apple Pay is that it needs your biometric id to authenticate a payment. It doesn’t matter how close that person / scanner is, unless you physically authenticate the transaction, it’s not getting anything.
 
akash.nu said:
The best part of Apple Pay is that it needs your biometric id to authenticate a payment. It doesn’t matter how close that person / scanner is, unless you physically authenticate the transaction, it’s not getting anything.
Click to expand...
This. Without your fingerprint or face scan, the Apple Pay is not "authenticated". It could get engaged in your backpack if something presses the home button twice, but unlikely to get authenticated.
 
akash.nu said:
The best part of Apple Pay is that it needs your biometric id to authenticate a payment. It doesn’t matter how close that person / scanner is, unless you physically authenticate the transaction, it’s not getting anything.
Click to expand...
When you say "biometric" what do you mean?


Ooops, I see the post before sorry. Is it the fingerprint mentioned?
 
Thank you very much. Feel better about the SE.

Anyone know about wallets that say they are made w protection from backpack scanners, what is the reality? For the first time this year in my banking, I own a card w a chip. I didn't want one, but I had no choice. When I pay at a store, I must pull the card out, swipe it, hold it while I wait for the transaction to be approved, then wait for the receipt, then lastly put it in my "safe" wallet. I could have been bumped by a backpack during any of this transaction in the tiny aisle ways.
 
blackxacto said:
Thank you very much. Feel better about the SE.

Anyone know about wallets that say they are made w protection from backpack scanners, what is the reality? For the first time this year in my banking, I own a card w a chip. I didn't want one, but I had no choice. When I pay at a store, I must pull the card out, swipe it, hold it while I wait for the transaction to be approved, then wait for the receipt, then lastly put it in my "safe" wallet. I could have been bumped by a backpack during any of this transaction in the tiny aisle ways.
Click to expand...
Are you in the US? US Cards don't have the RFID feature unless its a Capital One or select Amex Cards. So nothing to worry about there. Chip cards are much safer than magnetic stripe cards because mag stripe cards are not encrypted, where as the chip is protected under heavy encryption. Also, in a lot of cases, you insert chip cards yourself rather than handing it to a cashier (like at chilis or Applebees), so the card doesn't disappear away where they can write down the card numbers. US Chip Cards like most in the world are "Contact Only Chip Cards" which means the chip must meet the physical contact in the reader to make the transaction. The cards you're afraid of are contactless cards, which aren't really issued in the US as US banks would rather you use your Apple Pay etc instead.

As for Apple Pay, it doesn't send anything at all unless your fingerprint is on the scanner, or it read your Face ID...AND you pressed the side button twice on the iPhone X. And even if for some odd reason it does, the numbers it sent out are tokenized numbers, that aren't your real card number anyway, which is useless to a criminal.
 
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This is a VISA Debit Card from my local bank in US. Never used to have a chip. Now they do. I'll check w the bank, but you sound encouraging. Thanks for your responses. Feel much much better.
 
blackxacto said:
This is a VISA Debit Card from my local bank in US. Never used to have a chip. Now they do. I'll check w the bank, but you sound encouraging. Thanks for your responses. Feel much much better.
Click to expand...
Chip cards were required since October of 2015. Some banks were late, but now we all pretty much have them. The UK used it since 2005, with the most recent country going to chip cards, Australia in 2013. 2015 was America's turn. They're perfectly safe (much more safer than magnetic stripe for sure, as magnetic stripe can be skimmed!) and they are encrypted, and are the second most secure method of payment (first method being Apple Pay!)

Now every chip card in the world can still be skimmed, because they still have a magnetic stripe on them, because a lot of machines still don't read the chip. Even parking meters & ATMs in the UK (a full chip enabled country) still use the magnetic stripe. So we have a long ways to go to remove the stripe entirely from credit and debit cards. But theyre skimming the stripe, not the chip.
 
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I feel it's worth mentioning here that firstly, RFID blocking wallets work by acting as a Faraday cage, absorbing any microwave radiation trying to pass through. A sheet or two of aluminium foil will do the exact same thing.

Also, if your card/phone was somehow skimmed and used, I would be mortified to hear that your bank would not refund any money stolen (I'm sure they are insured against such things). It is likely that they would detect abnormal transactions made, alert you, and freeze your account if someone stole your information in this way.

Finally, considering the chances of this actually happening (are basically nil) and the safeguards in place to limit or stop damage in the case that it does happen, I'd suggest that you really shouldn't worry about it. The extra cost of shielded wallets, plus the stress of worrying will easily offset the negligible chance of bad things happening.


IMHO, If someone really wanted your extra cash, they'd mug you.
 
Chase did issue the contactless cards for a while, I had one and used it a couple times that way as a novelty, but they discontinued them after a year or two, I think most banks did. Probably because of the security issue. I don't think with most banks anymore you have to worry about getting an RFID wallet or anything.
 
Thanks, everyone, for your responses. Feel a lot better about a chip. Hope we can remove the stripe soon.
 
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