Tap to pay. Easy to steal — unless you block it.
RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) lets you wave a credit card, passport or licence in front of a scanner instead of sliding a magnetic strip. The scanner sends a signal. An antenna in the card picks it up, wakes a tiny chip, and the data is read — contactless, from a short distance.
Those chips sit in contactless cards, biometric passports, ID cards and travel cards. Convenient when you mean to tap. A problem when someone else’s reader is close enough to skim the same signal without you noticing.
Go Travel RFID products include a protective layer that blocks those signals, so wallets, passport covers and bags keep your details private until you choose to tap.
How RFID skimming works
1. The ping. A reader sends a radio signal. The antenna in a contactless card or passport wakes the chip — no swipe, no PIN.
2. The skim. A hidden reader in a crowd can pick up the same ping from a short distance. You might never feel it happen.
3. The shield. Go Travel RFID products have a blocking layer so the chip stays quiet in the wallet, cover or bag until you take the card out to tap.
RFID collection
See it on the products
Wallets, organisers and covers with a blocking layer. Open the RFID collection for the full set.
RFID range
Wallets, passport covers and bags that block the ping
RFID questions
The short version of how contactless cards work, and how we block the ping.
What is RFID?
Radio Frequency Identification. A chip and antenna in a card or passport that can be read wirelessly, so you can tap instead of swipe.
What is skimming?
Someone using their own reader to capture that wireless data from a short distance — in a queue, on a train, in a crowd — without taking the card out of your bag.
Do Go Travel RFID products actually block it?
They include a protective layer designed to block RFID signals so the chip cannot be activated while it is inside the wallet, cover or bag.
Will my card still tap at a till?
Yes. Take the card out to pay. The block is for when cards sit together in a pocket or bag.