Beware Credit Card Holders: Your card details can be 'stolen - thanks to new contactless technology

At a time when use of credit cards and the notion of paperless money is expanding the world over, there are now concerns that someone passing by you in the streets may 'rob you of your credit card details' and use these for stealing your money.

The RFID technology may make it easier to rob your credit card details [Photo: Getty Images/Mail Online]

Although the emerging 'contact-less technology' is yet to come to this part of the world - but it wouldn't be long for a handheld device of mere seven pounds to throng the local markets and made use of by the criminals to rob you even when your credit card is securely tucked in your wallet in the hi pocket of your trousers or the hand held ladies' purses.

Mail Online in its recent post has warned about the misuse of contact-less technology:

Millions of credit and debit card users could be ‘robbed by radiowave’ because of new contactless technology being brought in by banks.

Almost 20million shoppers are now able to buy goods by simply waving their card in front of a reader at the tills, even if it is still in a wallet or a purse.

But industry experts have warned that the information emitted by the cards can be stolen by fraudsters using handheld receptors that cost as little as £7 on the internet.

It means cardholders – most of whom are given a contact-less card automatically when their old one expires – can unknowingly surrender their personal bank details to a thief by simply walking past them in the street.

The technology in the card, known as radio frequency identification (RFID), transmits bank details via its own radio signal, and is accepted in many High Street chains, including Co-op, Boots and Pret-a-Manger.

Read details and be warned: Mail Online 

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TIME's 100 Most Influential People of the World: Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy is one

Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy made headlines when her 'Saving Face' won her an Oscar - and also the first one for her country Pakistan. Being a female journalist, she had the guts and courage to make a documentary about a subject that snatches away beauty and life of many a women in Pakistan and even around the world every year.

The dis-configuring the faces of human beings, specially women by men is not new. Bu when these men go unpunished, it is more painful than the physical pain suffered by the victims. It is because of this fact, the offenders are encouraged to make more women suffer for rest of their lives.

'Saving Face' is one such documentary by Miss Chinoy which brings to forth the sufferings of women subjected to this heinous crime and watch helplessly those who did it roaming freely with no feeling of remorse or guilt. This documentary by Chinoy has not only highlighted the sufferings of the female victims within Pakistan but without as well. While she gets an Oscar, the TIME magazine includes her in the 2012 list of 100 most influential people of the world.

The write up for Chinoy is written by none other than Hollywood celebrity and human rights activist Angelina Jolie who has visited Pakistan twice to sympathize with the flood victims of Pakistan during 2010 and 2011.

Here is a screen shot of the TIME magazine site about Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy by Angelina Jolie:

It may be added here that this time other than men, some 40 women have also been added to the Time's list of 100 most influential people of the world. The list of women also include Mrs Hillary Clington of USA, Mamata Banerjee of India, star celebrities Adele and Rihanna, Maryam Durani of Afghanistan and many more. 

As a member of the TIME 100, Sharmeen has been invited to attend the annual TIME 100 Gala on April 24, at the Lincoln Center in New York City.

Reference: TIME

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