Meet paycardreader, the credit card-stealing Android app
Just in case anyone was starting to feel too comfortable paying for things with contactless credit cards, a German software developer has posted a new app on the Google Play app store that’s capable of swiping credit card information from contactless cards such as PayPass MasterCard, Visa payWave and Barclays PayTag. SC Magazine reports that Thomas Skora, a senior consultant for security firm Integralis, has created an app that can “skim card numbers and [expiration] dates, along with transactions and merchant IDs” using near field communications technology that is typically used by mobile payment platforms such as Google Wallet. In order to swipe someone’s card information, thieves will have to be within a relatively short distance of their victims so they can use their smartphones to scan any contactless pay cards unwitting users might have.
Related stories
Prepaid cards return to Google Wallet; Google apologizes with free $5 credit
Google may share Google Wallet revenue with carriers to spur adoption
Sony announces the Xperia sola, with ‘floating touch’ navigation [video]
