By Having recently been launched into the UK, SkimSafe is a new innovation in smart protection technology dedicated to combatting card fraud.
SkimSafe is a protective card which looks just like an ordinary bank card but contains leading-edge technology that obstructs thieves from taking your personal card information and using it somewhere else.
SkimSafe Protective Card – Protects you from wireless theft
Founded in 2016 by IT security experts Björn Granberg and Carl Martinsson, SkimSafe is the product of Björn’s own experience of being a victim of payment card fraud. Björn discusses:
“One day I discovered that someone had made online purchases with my payment card that I didn’t recognise. I soon discovered that I was a victim of card fraud and then started looking into the security of modern payment cards. I was surprised by how easy it is to wirelessly steal payment card details and realised that something needed to be done about this huge problem.”
After this, it took 6 months of product development before the duo were ready to launch their first product.
“We built and tested many prototypes before we ended up placing our technology inside what looks like a regular payment card. The SkimSafe card is by far the most user-friendly and efficient way to protect yourself against wireless card fraud,” says co-founder Carl Martinsson.
SkimSafe in production | Photo: SkimSafe
Just last year, the UK lost a mammoth £1billion through credit and debit card fraud alongside being recorded as having the largest case of ‘card not present’ transactions in Europe at a whopping £409million.
“The UK is the card fraud capital of Europe. There is no other country where there are so many victims of card fraud as in the UK.”
Ever since contactless cards were introduced, it has become much easier for thieves to target and steal an individuals card details by using wireless scanners. Award-winning financial website This is Money, claim it’s happening at such a fast rate that criminals are stealing almost £27 every minute from contactless payment cards, “raising fears that the technology is becoming a ‘magnet’ for thieves.”
It’s not surprising that it’s a common problem – as recent statistics demonstrate the rise in the number of cards in existence within the UK, has jumped from 59million in 2015, to a staggering 119million in 2017.
The aim of SkimSafe is to prevent these wireless skimming schemes from happening. SkimSafe works by creating an electromagnetic field which blocks the RF signals of RFID readers used to skim credit cards, and thus, makes your cards impossible to scan. This protective card fits well into all wallets, purses and cardholders.
Additionally, this practical gizmo can protect up to four payment cards either side of the SkimSafe card at one single time, meaning it can protect a total of eight cards. Better yet, the device doesn’t need a battery to run and won’t affect your mobile phone in any way!
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