The Lemon Fool

Is anyone using card protectors for contactless cards ? I believe they are called Card Defenders and are supposed to protect against criminals using hand-held readers to skim details from your contactless card, say while in a queue at the supermarket.

Sue

No. Have you got a padlock on the cash in your wallet? Because that is much more vulnerable.

It is not technically impossible to do. But any skimmed transactions can be easily traced and reversed. It would be a VERY short criminal career. Usual scaremongering over anything new.

Gryff

I have started using a Secrid Cardprotector (https://www.secrid.com/en/product/id/1/ ... tor-silver), but mainly because it's about the thinnest I've seen and it keeps my cards all in one place.

I'm less bothered about the fact that it's made of aluminium keeping skimmers at bay than the fact that, while they were just in my back pocket, my signatures tended to rub off and the card/chip breaks occasionally.

Another Secrid user here. My wife bought me a Secrid Miniwallet about 3 years ago and I swear by them. I wanted one just because of the skimming fears but it's become more than that. It keeps cards secure and damage free and the leather cover/pockets will hold bank notes, stamps etc. It's not cheap though (not for LBYM board maybe) but having said that, it's been in constant use and will probably be good for another few years.

Redmires wrote:Another Secrid user here. It's not cheap though (not for LBYM board maybe)

No need for justification Redmires. The principal of LBYM is that the price of a product should not be a barrier for its discussion and recommendation on LBYM. People should ultimately make their own value and affordability judgements.

Happy New Year to you all.

gadjet wrote:Is anyone using card protectors for contactless cards ? I believe they are called Card Defenders and are supposed to protect against criminals using hand-held readers to skim details from your contactless card, say while in a queue at the supermarket.

How would you know if they are necessary?

It sounds like the old joke - Two strangers on a train. One is tearing strips of their Evening Standard and rolling them up into balls and throwing them out of the window. The other asks why they are doing it.

"To frighten the elephants away" is the response.

"But there are no elephants"

"See, it works".

Anyway, if you want some then some of the banks give them away FOC so you can put all your cards apart from one in them and then you don't have to take the one contactless card out of your wallet when you want to pay, but can slap the whole thing on the reader.

gadjet wrote:Is anyone using card protectors for contactless cards ? I believe they are called Card Defenders and are supposed to protect against criminals using hand-held readers to skim details from your contactless card, say while in a queue at the supermarket.

Sue

An old credit card/store card covered with aluminum foil works just as well, or the cardboard from a cereal box cut to the same dimensions and covered with foil.

Actually paying for a 'special' wallet is total ignorance and stupidity!

But, hey, ho, that's how our economy works. Marketing, Advertising and plonkers.


Steve

stevensfo wrote:An old credit card/store card covered with aluminum foil works just as well, or the cardboard from a cereal box cut to the same dimensions and covered with foil.

They'd fall apart in my bum pocket even faster than my credit cards did before I found a decent holder for them; esp when you need to access one or more of the cards several times a day.

I don't think I'm stupid, ignorant or a plonker but I do know what I like. And I do like my Secrid.