Generally you don't have to open an app - just unlock it.
I used to think this too but I watched a TV item where the appeal of using a phone was explained by "you already have your phone in your hand and you don't have to go rummaging in purse/wallet/handbag/pocket for a card".
What absolute BS I thought. I don't have my phone in my hand and its just as easy to get a card as my phone.
Then I looked around me. The number of people who have a phone in their hand permanently is quite staggering.
I got these 4 years ago:
That's because they're loonies. My phone rarely comes out of my pocket, when out, or off the desktop, when at home.
That's pretty normal then, even though contactless can mean "waving the card near the reader" it's generally more usual to "tap it" as the range is pretty limited.
the chip contacts aren't involved in a contactless transaction.
You are Billy Nomates AICMFP.
Ring your cc company to check that only one transcation was registered. Or check your current transactions online if that's an option.
It's possible with a badly placed thumb to apply bending pressure to the card when laying it down on a reader on a bus or train barrier. This fractures the card breaking the built-in antenna strip.
A lot of administration costs go towards replacing them!
On Android You dont have to open an App or even unlock the phone, just wake it up so the screen comes on and make sure NFC is active. Over £45 you do have to have unlocked it very recently. It really comes down to how you carry your phone and any Cards.
Most purses/wallets now come with a layer built in so if you bought it new in the last five years your card can't be read. I only checked E-Bay but I couldn't find one without this feature.
Its pretty pointless as even using "long range" readers the maximum distance achieved in a lab was 45cms. The problem is that the card is powered by the signal so the signal strength reduces at twice the square of the distance, and the transmitter in the card is deliberately very low powered. As you found out most card readers struggle to work even when the card is close..
So perhaps the person next to you on the tube can read the number, name and expiry date, but
- they can't extract the key it uses to answer the challenge/response on a contactless reader so can't be re-used contactless.
- read the 3-digit security code from the back, so can't make many online purchases,
- extract the pin, so you can not use a card cloned in this way to make contactless purchases..
Most contactless fraud involves stolen cards. Shops don't always work online so don't check for a bounced card. However the card has spending limits so the banks exposure is limited. Eventually it won't work contactless without a normal with a PIN transaction and you can't steal the pin...
Dave
No. That's me and I have spent the £5.0. My phone stays in my pocket when I am at home.
You can usually set a default app associated with NFC payments, and hence no need to explicitly open anything.
Also one handy feature of the phone option is that the payment threshold is higher than the contactless one. So if you need to spend £100 on a single transaction you can (the phone will prompt you to key the pin for the card on transactions over the contactless floor limit)
Good this technology when it works :-) I ventured out yesterday, and parked in a car park which had a new pay machine. Ah, that's handy it takes cards, since I don't have much change on me. Entered registration, selected time, contactless payment, nada did not recognise the card... stuff card into slot, and nope did not recognise that either, try different card both ways? Nope. Cancelled transaction and did it again with cash, emptied a pocket load of shrapnel into it, and tada, ticket. Grrrrr.
The advantage of having the phone permanently in the hand is that it gives licence to walk across a pedestrian crossing without actually checking if oncoming traffic can stop. Because the person is looking at the phone the driver knows that is what is going to happen and there is no guesswork required.
I would have thought that own experience demonstrating how difficult it can be to get a successful read when you are actually trying, should reassure you that an accidental one while it's in your pocket with all your other cards is pretty unlikely.
How did you arrive at the premise that I was concerned about accidental data grabbing whilst the phone was in my pocket?
This was about the chip part of my card being pressed firmly onto the contactless card reader by the cashier, presumably for reasons you cite - it's sometimes hard to actually read the data genuinely.
The chip part doesn't need to be pressed onto anything, that would be a chip'n'pin transaction, not a contactless one.
I think the fact that few of us would share you security concerns over someone using their thumb to press the card down inclines us to think that you?re a tad paranoid regarding card security.
Tim
I did not mention a phone...
You mentioned "If my fear had been realised I have no idea of when or where any captured data might be used. For a brief while I did think about cancelling the card and getting a new one - which I can arrange easily on-line." which suggested your concern was that the card details had been captured. Is that not the case?
Perhaps he has implanted a card skimmer in his thumb, that will make a second transaction :-)
If it is really easy and you are really worried go ahead ( do it when you think you are not going to need the card for a few days as the issuing of a new card is NOT instantaneous). I'm sure the cost of issuing ONE new card is easily borne by the issuing company.
But I think you are worrying about nothing
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