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Credit/Debit Card Decoy™

Make Secretly Scanning RFID Tags Risky for Theives
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Nowadays with the expansion of emerging technology, many credit and debit cards have an RFID tag embedded in the plastic to make transactions quicker and easier just by waving the card across an RFID reader at your favorite store.

This has also caused some security concerns because anyone with a portable RFID scanner can detect your card and retrieve the information without your knowledge. So to combat this, we need the Credit/Debit Card Decoy™.

This card is assigned a standard 12 digit or 16 digit number complete with the expiration date, a fictitious name, and the name of a well known banking institution. Visually, it looks distinctively different from all of your other cards, however, if it is scanned without your knowledge by someone on the street, it will appear to be a legitimate credit or debit card. Then when the thief uses the card number, it will already be predispositioned to alert the authorities.

The user of this card will want to take necessary precautions to secure his other cards by using a small holder that shields radio signals, however, if everyone carried one of these decoy cards, it will eventually deter the thieves due to the increased risk of getting caught.

Jscotty, Dec 11 2010

iPod robbery decoy iPod_20robbery_20decoy
Hand over a fake iPod Shuffle in stead of the real one. [ScottS, Dec 31 2010]

Decoy Magnetic Key Holder Decoy_20Magnetic_20Key_20Holders
When it's removed from the body of the car, it sends an alarm. [ScottS, Dec 31 2010]

[link]






       What actually happens is the store simply says "Sir/madam we have to decline your sale".   

       There's no reason they should put themselves into potential danger because a card was stolen from somebody else, somewhere else.
FlyingToaster, Dec 11 2010
  

       as someone who has worked in retail for many years i can assure you that if a card fraud warning comes up when a card is used the customer will usually be detained, and in the rare occasion that this can't be done there are ways of tracing that customers journey and using CCTV to at least get an image. this even occurs in many small independent shops and the banks give substantial rewards in those cases
ComatoseSheep, Dec 11 2010
  

       I came up with this idea simply because in most circumstances when credit card numbers are stolen, the thieves succeed in making purchases and succeed in getting away with it and they are long gone before the legitimate owner knows that anything is wrong. Even though this might be a type of entrapment similar to a 'bait car", it will deter people who might otherwise end up scanning a "bait card"
Jscotty, Dec 12 2010
  

       I suspect that credit card numbers stolen via surreptitious RFID scanner would be used online or sold as one of hundreds in a database on the black market. All you have is the data, and it's not worth the time and expense of encoding and imprinting a new card for use at retail point of sale (or running the risk of being caught in person with a bad card) when you can just make anonymous purchases online.
Capt Skinny, Dec 15 2010
  

       I'm thinking that if an anonymous purchase is made, it would raise some red flags and activate some sort of anti-fraud agency. Depending on the situation, the authorities could allow the transaction to go through and then stake out the vacant shipping address.
Jscotty, Dec 18 2010
  

       I smell the next version of "Bait Car"
FlyingToaster, Dec 18 2010
  

       Great idea. The decoy card number could also be programmed so that if the card were to be stolen and used in any way, it would be declined (and ideally, law enforcement would be notified). See the links above to "iPod robbery decoy" and "Decoy Magnetic Key Holders". Looks like nobody has suggested a "Decoy Driver's License" here yet.
ScottS, Dec 31 2010
  

       It seems to me that it might be easier to use parallel encryption with the RFID transfers. While a thief may have the key to decrypt your information, it's the same risk as making online purchases, if I am correct. It's still a clever way to address a real problem, though!
CaptainDowns, Jan 01 2011
  

       I guess "parallel encryption" is an arrangement in which two or more processes agree on a common encryption key, and then use that key to encrypt all of the data they exchange. To prevent thievery in this environment, wouldn't it be nice if the cardholder could authorize data exchange only with known vendors?
ScottS, Jan 02 2011
  

       Encryption only gives the thieves another challenge that they can add to their list of accomplishments. Getting caught and not knowing if and when they will get caught is a more effective deterrent. NBC's Dateline has proven this over and over again.
Jscotty, Jan 03 2011
  
      
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