Credit-card Scanner: Scary!

I was switching from one channel to the other until I came to Fox News, and just before I could switch to another channel, the interviewer began speaking to a guy about credit cards and caught my attention right away. Its about stealing credit cards "electronically". Not pickpocketing the normal way we know it but in such a way that can only be made possible by Holly Wood movies.

The man was carrying an "electronic gadget" which can steal any credit card number anywhere as long as the scanner is within range. With credit/debit cards, the most important things are the numbers on the front and back and the names on them. The demonstration was also stunning because the interviewer had his credit card right inside his wallet, deep inside his pocket. The man with the scanner walked up to him and simulated a situation in a train where passengers are just inches apart and sometimes rubbed against each other. In matter of seconds, the man activated the scanner just as he came near the interviewer. The duo walked to the table and the man opened his gadget and pulled up the credit card number exactly as it appears on his card, right on the LCD of his gadget. That credit card was in his wallet inside his suit, oh my! Just how that gadget penetrated the clothing to get the credit card is indeed stunning.

The guy explained that after they got the credit card number from victims, they created fake credit cards using the numbers, as part of the experiment, and bought a few things with them. That proven to be very effective at least for the inventors but not credit card holders.

It also demonstrated how no one can escape the advancement of technology. Computers are so powerful nowadays that no one is immune to the danger that comes with it. The more computer programmers coming up with, the different programs and tech capabilities they produced, the more we become so vulnerable and a the more our privacy remains behind thin wall.