What Does Electronic Pickpocketing Mean?
Electronic pickpocketing refers to the process of stealing credit card information from people in a public place using RFID wireless technologies. It is a form of identity theft.
Techopedia Explains Electronic Pickpocketing
In recent years, it has become easier for hackers to use existing wireless hotspots and move through a crowd to steal credit card data using RFID wireless technologies. Credit cards are made with an embedded RFID strip that can be read by some wireless devices. This has led to things like contactless payment systems, but it has also exposed cardholders to financial fraud. To combat this new type of identity theft, credit card companies have developed RFID wallets that use a solid layer of material to shield the credit cards and prevent wireless technology signals from reaching inside someone else’s wallet.