Guard your mobile phone as you would your wallet

Pickpockets in medieval times would cut the purse strings which tied your money to your body to get your money. Fashion and currency changed and through time, purses and wallets became the norm and people carried them about themselves in their pockets or bags.

Life became a little more difficult for the pickpocket with the advent of credit and debit cards, but not so difficult that they could not steal your cards forge your signature.Then came ‘chip and pin’. This made life even more difficult for the thief unless they could ‘skim’ your PIN at the cashpoint.

Next came credit cards which, for small amounts (e.g. less than £10), you would not have to enter your pin but just wave the card in front of the till in Starbucks to make your payment. It was designed to cut down on the queues at the coffee shops.

The next big thing in money is your mobile phone. ‘Near Field Communication (NFC)’ is technology which you will soon be able to use to make small payments using your mobile phone. No more cards. Just wave your Android phone at the till to buy your latte. Google is working on this technology to be included in its Android mobile phone operating system and phones.

But, it’s not just your wallet that could go. So, too could your house keys, your passport and dog tags. (Check out this article on the ‘Business Insider’ website for more ideas on how NFC could change how you shop).

So, in future, make sure you keep track of your mobile phone if it has NFC technology in it and protect yourself against pickpockets with a good password on your phone.