Your card details could be 'robbed by radiowave'

Millions ofcredit and debit card users could be "robbed by radiowave" because ofa new contactless technology, the Daily Mail reported.

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

But industry experts have warned that the information emitted by the cards canbe stolen by fraudsters using handheld receptors that cost as little as sevenpounds on the internet.

It means cardholders - most of whom are given a contactless card automaticallywhen their old one expires - can unknowingly surrender their personal bankdetails 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 HighStreet chains, including Co-op, Boots and Pret-a-Manger, according to thenewspaper Sunday.

It does away with the need for a customer inputting their PIN when buyinggoods, and was designed to reduce queues at the checkout.