How To De-RFID Your Credit Card

By consumerist.com August 14, 2007

Credit card companies are putting magical radio chips inside your credit cards to allow for “touch n go” “contact-less” payments, but if for some reason the idea of a miniature beacon transmitting your credit card information, albeit however encrypted the companies feel like making them, there is something you can do about, blogs Cody: Dremel!

1. Google your specfic credit card name and type (i.e. Chase Freedom Card) + RFID. If you get some hits of people saying there’s an RFID chip inside, it’s probably got one.
2. Hold your credit card up into the light and see if you can spot the raised bump. That’s the RFID chip.
3. Drill a hole in the spot.
4. Voila! You’re off the grid.

As long as you don’t make huge gashes and tear through your magnetic strip, this should in no way affect your ability to swipe at the store or use ATMs.

How To De-RFID Your Credit Card [adr.enal.in]

Tagged With: , , , , ,
«
»

Comments

  1. MaliBoo Radley says:
    August 15, 2007 at 8:36 pm

    @shoegazer:

    If they can use that info to improve service on the Northern line, I’ll take it.

  2. kcrusher says:
    August 15, 2007 at 9:05 pm

    You can also de-rfid your cards by zapping them in the microwave.

  3. Zatos says:
    August 16, 2007 at 3:27 am

    So… is there any other ways to disable these chips? I’d actually rather not drill a hole in my card(s)… I guess it’s one of those weird obsessive things. Won’t taking a hammer to it work like it does on the passports?

  4. dmk358 says:
    August 16, 2007 at 4:20 pm

    I believe an easier (and reversible) way to “foil” RFID readers is to attach aluminum foil directly to the card, over the chip or antenna site. The self stick aluminum tape used to seal HVAC ducts should work nicely. I have tested this out with the RFID facility access badges our company uses, and with the tape in contact with, but not even adhered to, the badge, the reader is nonfunctional except acknowledging that a signal (of some type) was received. I would be interested in seeing more real life testing of added foil tape.

  5. inno says:
    August 17, 2007 at 4:45 pm

    @Zagroseckt:
    “In Reply to wrapping your passport in aluminum foil. all your doing there is increasing it’s range.”

    Uhh, no.

    From wikipedia article on RFID:

    “There are contradicting opinions as to whether aluminum can prevent reading of RFID chips. Some people claim that aluminum shielding, essentially creating a Faraday cage, does work. Others claim that simply wrapping an RFID card in aluminum foil, only makes transmission more difficult, yet is not completely effective at preventing it.”

    Read the complete thing here: RFID Shielding [wikipedia.com]

  6. mycroft2000 says:
    August 19, 2007 at 6:41 pm

    Would a good strong whack with a hammer work as well?

  7. TechnoDestructo says:
    September 11, 2007 at 6:44 pm

    @Trojan69:

    Of course, with RFID being promoted as a solution to everything, it will NEVER be as easy to copy an RFID chip as it is to copy a magnetic stripe, right?

    Also, is there something about the particular RFID chips in credit cards that limits the range to a few inches, or can they be forced to be readable at a few feet like for most applications that have been touted?

    And what’s to stop someone in a checkout line or a crowded subway or something from carrying a reader at wallet level?

    Don’t take off those tinfoil hats yet folks.

    @jamar0303:

    I presume an RFID enabled phone can be turned off when you don’t want anyone reading it?

« Older Comments