Travelon, as you can guess from the name, makes great bags for traveling – around town or around the world. This particular wallet and bag combination is perfect for protecting your valuables and your personal data as you go about your daily travels. The Travelon Anti-Theft Convertible Hobo with RFID Blocking Wallet are made of 100% polyester. The bag has a slash-resistant bottom panel, straps, and exterior zip pockets, and the strap has a carabiner that is used to attach the bag to a chair so no one can walk away with it while you’re having a meal. The strap is adjustable, so you can even wear it cross-body, which prevents someone from snatching it off your shoulder as they walk by you. The bag also has a locking hook to keep the main compartment’s zipper closed so someone can’t just reach in and grab the contents. There’s a front zipper compartment with RFID shielding in the interior pockets to protect your passport and your phone from being scanned without your knowledge. The Hobo bag also comes with an RFID-shielded wallet with eight card slots, two bill pockets, ID window, and one zip pocket to keep your other RFID-chipped cards from being scanned. The bag measures 14″wide x 10.5″ tall x 3.5″ thick with a 17″ to 30″ strap drop; it weighs 13 ounces. The wallet is 7.5″ wide x 4″ tall x 0.5″ thick. The set comes in black, steel, navy, golden brown, olive, or orchid. It’s available at QVC‘s Today’s Special Value pricing of $34.92 until midnight ET today (August 29, 2014).
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My spouse got one of the RFID wallets. She wanted to know if I wanted one. I said no.
Just how common is the theft of data due to stealing through RFID? I really haven’t heard of anyone experiencing this.
An article on CBS Money watch says:
“Still, the Smart Card Alliance says it has yet to see a verifiable report of data theft from an RFID card. Moreover, the biggest threat to credit card data is theft from a database. Hackers are much more interested in stealing data on the wholesale rather than individual level.
There are very simple steps you can take to diminish this threat even further. A number of companies now sell wallets that have RFID blockers built in. In 2011, Consumer Reports found that many of the blockers didn’t perform as well as promised and that none did as well as simply wrapping the cards in tinfoil. A slightly more attractive option: credit card sleeves made of Tyvek, a material made of high-density polyethylene fibers. They are inexpensive — 50 cents buys you added security, and you don’t have to explain why your wallet is covered in tinfoil”
And as another article said, the data on your credit card (or passport) can be read when the item has been taken out of the wallet.
I just don’t see these bags and wallets helping. (And they’re not the best-looking products I’ve ever seen.)
@Sandee I didn’t know that Tyvek can work as a blocker. Interesting… I also haven’t heard of any RFID thefts in my area, but then I live in a relatively small town. You on the other hand are in NYC. I think the chances would be higher for you or someone you know to have a bad experience.
At Defcon they had contests to see how far away people can steal the data from these cards. The results were terrifying.
Maybe it is aluminum-coated Tyvek.