In the photo, you can see a scanner for contactless withdrawal of money from credit cards. Leaning it against the bags or backpacks of passengers, the thief removes a small amount (100-200 UAH). You will not hear the signal that the "payment" has passed, as at the checkout counter in a supermarket. And while you will receive a notification about the withdrawal of funds from your bank card, the attacker will already be gone.
Fraudsters specifically steal a small amount from the cards. First, payments up to 200-500 UAH in most cases do not require confirmation in the form of entering a PIN code.
For the sake of 100-200 hryvnia, you are unlikely to waste time and nerves on contacting the police, which means that the thief will be unpunished. And in general, in order to open a criminal case, it is necessary that there are many such statements. Since according to our Criminal Code, criminal liability begins if the damage is 1\2 of the subsistence minimum (that is, 1135 UAH for March 2021).
However, if you are the victim of a thief with a scanner, we recommend that you, in addition to the police, report the incident to your bank. Let's just say that the money is unlikely to be returned to you. Unless they recommend reducing the allowed amount for contactless payments without authentication. But if there are several such applications, they can block the account of the attackers (even if it is most likely issued to front persons).
1. Be alert every second! And try to keep your distance in transport.
2. For your cards, use special pockets with protection from scanners (RFID Blocking). These are already available on several models from Mark Ryden. Here they are – Boost MR9201, Nomadic MR9675, Dolce MR9978.
After all, this method of electronic theft has already gained momentum in Asian megacities and, alas, is spreading around the world.
