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A couple of months ago, I saw the Jonas Brothers kick off their world tour with back-to-back shows at Yankee Stadium. I sang, danced, screamed, sweated, cried, traded bracelets, got rained on and even did karaoke with Jimmy Fallon (???).

I also spent a LOT of cash. I’d bought the tickets back in April, so the seats were paid off, but between Yankee Stadium’s $40 cocktails, the $70 I dropped on limited-edition merch and the $30 price of chicken tenders I scarfed down after the show, I felt like I used to be continually pulling my card out of my wallet to pay for one thing or one other. And despite my JoBros bliss, I began worrying about whether it was truly secure to do this in a crowd of hundreds.

I do know there’s a complete industry around RFID-blocking wallets — but would they assist in this case?

Do I really need to make use of an RFID blocker to guard my money?

Roger A. Grimes, a data-driven defense evangelist at KnowBe4, gave me a straight answer. Absolutely not.

“In nearly two and half a long time,” he says,” I’ve never found a single real-world crime that might have been prevented by an RFID blocker.”

Well, OK.

Let’s back up. RFID refers to Radio Frequency Identification, a technology that uses radio waves to read information stored on a tag. RFID chips are embedded in hotel key cards, toll passes, passports, bank cards, debit cards and even pets — every thing with contactless functionality.

“In case your card has a wavy thing on it, then there’s RFID technology in that card, which is why you possibly can tap it [at the register],” says Mallory Knodel, the chief technology officer on the Center for Democracy and Technology, a civil liberties nonprofit. “The cardboard is pushing out a tiny amount of knowledge that gets picked up.”

That data could be read by anyone who gets physically near an RFID chip and has an RFID reader. RFID readers are available online, meaning every Joe Schmo with 80 bucks can get their hands on one, stand behind me on the merch table and scrape my data without my consent.

But theoretically, this signal could be blocked by a special RFID-blocking wallet, purse or passport holder fabricated from a fabric that interferes with the radio signal.

How big the chance is is determined by who you discuss with.

Knodel says “it’s not something to panic about.” Grimes points out that RFID tags can only transmit a small amount of knowledge to start with, and with recent advances in cybersecurity the knowledge an attacker could potentially get — after which maliciously use — via RFID is becoming “less and fewer usable” over time.

Eva Velasquez, president/CEO of the Identity Theft Resource Center, says that to be able to use an RFID reader to steal someone’s data, a foul actor would “need to get very close, practically bumping into the person.” They’d also need to be willing to aim the maneuver out in public where it’s easy to get caught.

“Is it possible this might occur? Yes, but it surely’s unlikely,” she adds.

RFID crime is basically rare: Grimes says within the handful of times someone’s card info has been stolen this manner, it involved a scenario where an individual had to tug their card out of their wallet to make use of it (at, say, a gas station). Having an RFID-blocking wallet wouldn’t have prevented that crime anyway… despite all of the marketing on the contrary.

“All these vendors generate profits by scaring people about these nonexistent threats,” he says.

Velasquez, for one, is an enormous fan of mobile wallets, which she says are “the safest strategy to pay apart from money.”

That’s because after I add a card to my iPhone, it gets tokenized every time I take advantage of it, meaning that even when the point-of-sale system in query is compromised, my data is guarded.

“I might somewhat see any person put their cards into their mobile wallet and spend their time doing that than searching for an RFID wallet,” Velasquez says, adding that individuals also needs to arrange biometrics, strong passcodes and remote-wipe features in case their phone gets lost.

Other best practices for protecting my identity include watching out for social engineering, or instances by which a stranger tricks me into sharing personal data. I might also wish to freeze my credit and use my credit (not debit) card every time possible.

Bank cards include higher fraud protections than debit cards, and within the case my card number does get stolen, the recovery process is so much easier.

The underside line

RFID blockers are largely overhyped because the chance is so low. Going out of my strategy to buy an expensive wallet solely for this capability? Not essential.

“In case you just like the wallet and it happens to have RFID, enjoy your wallet,” Velasquez says. “But we actually would love people to focus their energy on much, much larger threats on the market.”

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