Where did I put my tinfoil hat?

I'm not a big fan of dealing with credit card companies. I got my new Chase card in the mail today, so I knew I would have to talk to the sales guy who would active my card and then try to sell me a bunch of crap I didn't need. I hate being rude to people in call centers; they're just making a living trying to do their jobs. So as the gentleman on the other end of the phone was activating my account, he mentioned that my card came with "Blink" and asked me if I knew what it was. I did not, and told him as much. He told me the company lines about it being fast, safe and secure. Instead of going through all the hassle of swiping your credit card, you just wave your card by the reader and it gets picked up. Interesting. He started asking me about my purchasing habits, and I told him all I wanted to do was activate the card.

But the conversation got me thinking. How would that work? I did a little research and found out they use RFID. This uses radio waves to remotely read your credit card. Should I be worried? You tell me.



For $8 plus shipping and a little geekery, I could walk around and steal credit card information from anyone that I happen to be standing next to. That's a little frightening to me. So guess what I did?



Actually, I just used a hammer. Next time I'm in a store that uses an RFID scanner, I'll try using it and make sure it doesn't work.