A very concerning smart phone payments scam, which is rampant in the UK, in the last week arrived in Ireland.
Retail Excellence Ireland (REI) are advising all retailers against taking any payment via smart phone, unless the customer is known to them.
REI received advice from Radius Technologies on the development, who urge caution when using NFC (near field communication) enabled devices.
Some useful tips for retailers to limit their exposure, include: Turn off NFR on your smart phone; Never download and install smart phone apps from untrusted sources, they can damage your cards or worse; Protect your credit / debit cards in scan proof wallet; Check your banks account policy on cyber theft; Ensure secure Pin login or Finger print access to your smart phone.
A video, which shows how easy it is for your credit card details to be stolen and used to buy goods in-store using contactless and online, can be viewed at http://www.radius.ie/contactless-theft/
