With the outbreak of the pandemic, more people have moved to contactless payments. Primarily contactless credit cards, which have a special chip that allows users to pay for a transaction simply by putting their card close to a payment terminal, rather than inserting it.
In response the number of retail outlets, including gas stations, that can process contactless payments is also on the rise.
Credit card issuers are scheduling up the rollout of contactless cards in 2021. Almost every major card issuer, including Visa, American Express and Discover, began the transition to contactless cards in the U.S. a couple of years ago. About three-fourths of U.S. customers will have these cards by the end of 2022.
I understand the concern for wanting to limit passing credit cards back and forth during a pandemic. But, my question is how easy is it to receive that signal and copy it for fraudulent purposes?