Electronic Pickpocketing Victims, Law Enforcement Report Losses

Credit card companies are breathlessly denying the 1 billion microchip-enabled credit and debit cards they’ll issue by 2016 expose consumers to electronic pickpocketing, even as experts prove otherwise, victims come forward and law enforcement officials issue consumer warnings, Identity Stronghold announced.

Hundreds of millions of contactless credit cards containing radio-frequency identification chips have already been issued worldwide, allowing consumers to simply pass their card near a reader instead of swiping the magnetic strip.

Conversely, this allows identity thieves to steal your credit card information by simply passing an easily purchased reader near your pocket or purse.

Louisville, Ky., resident Sandra Barker, said she fell victim to Electronic Pickpocketing during a trip to Las Vegas around the time Nevada State Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto issued a statewide consumer warning about the crime. “Thankfully, only two unauthorized charges went unnoticed,” but it was clear the thieves had her RFID-enabled credit card’s number, Barker said. “It happened quickly, ruined my trip, took three hours to resolve, and since, I’ve decided to protect myself.”