One barrier to acceptance by consumers seems to be security concerns. Local TV stations have done stories showing how the scanners work, and raising eyebrows when in one case the news team was able to use a device to read bystanders’ card numbers.
So far, there have been no reported cases of identity theft using RFID readers. But Dr. Marjie Britz, a criminal justice professor at Clemson University, in South Carolina, says it is “naive” to assume that it hasn’t happened. She points out, “The vast majority of individuals who have had their identity or personal information compromised do not realize it for a significant period of time,” and therefore it’s difficult to know when, and how, the theft occurred.