RFID Blocking in your Wallet?

[Frederick Skelly]

I'm looking for a new wallet. Some vendors claim their wallets can block someone with an RFID reader from snagging your credit card info.

There are some expensive wallets ($100) out there that do NOT have this capability, which makes me wonder if this is a gimmick.

What do you folks know about this?

Thank you!
Fred

[John Ziebron]

Many years ago when this problem started coming to light I bought a bunch of the RFID blocking sleeves, put my credit cards in them and then put them in my wallet. When I needed a new wallet 3 years ago I bought one with the built in RFID blocking. Like most of us I'm fussy about the configuration of my wallet but I did find one on Amazon for about $20 that I liked. It was made in India and I still use it today.

Men's wallets, like lady's purses come in a wide range of prices. But RFID wallets are common place today and you can find a lot of them in the sub $50 price range. The only problem I have is do they truly do a good job of blocking. I have no way of testing this feature but perhaps others on the forum came shed some light on that.

[Tom M King]

I use the sleeves because cards didn't last long in my pocket without them. My wallet is really just a leather business card holder. It has my drivers license, Medicare card, a tiny tweezer, and a credit card in it. I don't like a lot of stuff in my pockets.

[Jim Becker]

I have a hard enough time finding the kind of wallet I prefer and adding RFID shielding to that would likely be maddening. But it's certainly a good idea. (I don't carry much cash...it's all cards of some time. A limited number of them are actual payment methods but the rest are cards for things like healthcare, ID and some key afficiations with AAA as an example. The majority of mens' wallets still focus too much on green money rather than cards and are also physically larger than I prefer)

[Andrew More]

It's relatively simple: build a Faraday cage around the card, no EMF gets in, so no reading. In English this means that putting some sort of iron enclosure around the card should keep the electromagnetic waves from reading the card. As for which ones do this, I think it's more challenging in leather than the more rigid "anti-wallets". I don't think price really plays into it.

Is it a "gimmick"? IDK, I mean I would expect it to work fairly well, with the right design, but I don't think that people using RFID readers to steal your credit card info is all that likely to begin with. Maybe it's more an issue in crowded cities with lots of people walking around?

[Andrew More]

I have no way of testing this feature but perhaps others on the forum came shed some light on that.

Seems relatively simple: keep it in the wallet, see if one of the RFID credit card readers can read it. If not, I think you're good, assuming it works once removed from the wallet.

[Jim Koepke]

My vehicle comes with a fob that locks/unlocks the doors and must be present to start the vehicle.
My paranoia led me to purchase a "Faraday cage" holder. With the fob inside the holder it could still work the locks and other functions. Seemed like a bum deal to me.

jtk

[Bill Dufour]

In English this means that putting some sort of iron enclosure around the card should keep the electromagnetic waves from reading the card.
Need not be iron. Any electrically conductive material will work. Aluminum is often used since it is cheap and light weight. It can have small holes in it so a woven metal mesh will work. I do not know the allowable hole size off hand. In theory metal sequins would work but they are not electrically bonded to each other.
Bill D

[Ken Fitzgerald]

In English this means that putting some sort of iron enclosure around the card should keep the electromagnetic waves from reading the card.
Need not be iron. Any electrically conductive material will work. Aluminum is often used since it is cheap and light weight. It can have small holes in it so a woven metal mesh will work. I do not know the allowable hole size off hand. In theory metal sequins would work but they are not electrically bonded to each other.
Bill D

It's been decades since I studied this kind of RF theory but I suspect the size of the hole has to do with the frequency of the RF signal being used to read the card.


I have a wallet with built-in RFID blocking. I bought it at Amazon a couple years ago for about $35 IIRC.

[Rob Luter]

My vehicle comes with a fob that locks/unlocks the doors and must be present to start the vehicle.
My paranoia led me to purchase a "Faraday cage" holder. With the fob inside the holder it could still work the locks and other functions. Seemed like a bum deal to me.

jtk

I have a similar issue. My car and fob communicate if they are closer than about 15 feet from one another. I have to make sure when I store the fob it's farther than that from the car. If not it will wake the car up and the and two will jabber constantly and run the battery down over a few days.

[Jason Roehl]

I had to get an RFID-blocking sleeve for one of my cards—my employee ID. It used to be my badge access to secure buildings and areas where I work, but my employer went to a system that did not have our pictures and place of employment on the card (wise). So I was issued a new card. With both cards in my wallet, the badge scanners would not correctly read the new card. With the blocking sleeve on the old ID, the new card reads just fine. Strangely, none of my credit cards seem to interfere.

[Stan Calow]

I have always heard (from credible sources) that this was an overblown threat and RFID protection was unnecessary.

[Andrew More]

I have always heard (from credible sources) that this was an overblown threat and RFID protection was unnecessary.

I can believe it, half the time the silly tap card readers don't work when they're supposed to. How is a covert reader supposed to do any better?

[roger wiegand]

I think that the idea that criminals don't already have ready access to my credit card information without bothering to try to scan my pant's pocket is a fantasy. I've sent the information to many hundreds of vendors and handed my card to dozens and dozens of cashiers and waiters who could easily have collected my information, complete with the security code that is often required. Each of those vendors in turn keeps the information on computer systems that are subject to wholesale hacking and collecting CC information for thousands to millions of people at a time. If you are so inclined you can go to the "dark web" and buy as many valid credit card numbers as you want, any time, any day for pennies apiece without bothering to go out and collect them yourself.

So no, this is not something I would bother with.

What I do do is to check my bills carefully every month; sometimes there are bogus charges and I report them. So far they have always been reversed immediately and without any hassle other than having to make the call and get a new CC number. More often the credit card company flags the transaction for me as bogus.

For a real increase in security I think the best option is to use a service like ApplePay. They use a single-use number system so that the information passed to vendors is only good for one transaction, stealing the number is useless.

In the rest of the world system have been implemented in restaurants and such with mobile terminals so you never have to hand your card or phone to some unknown person and have them disappear into the back room with it to do who knows what with it. I hope the US will eventually catch up.

[Frederick Skelly]

All good insights. Thanks folks!
Fred