LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – You may be one tap away from trouble. That’s the warning from Visa as we head into the holiday shopping season.

The same chip that makes using your credit or debit card easy to use, also makes it easy for criminals to steal money from your accounts.

FOX5 investigates’ to learn more about this emerging type of cybercrime.

It’s called “Digital Pickpocketing,” and it’s not that different from the old-fashioned form of the crime. But the new high-tech version has the credit and debit card company visa is warning people to keep their wallets close.

How it works:

The bad actors register a fake business with a mobile point-of-sale system to facilitate transactions.

From there it’s a simple as downloading an app to a cell phone.

That app makes the phone into a mobile point-of-sale device – or mpos.

Then the bad actors head out to busy places where they behave much like traditional pickpocket.

They bump into you and tap their phone against your wallet, purse, or backpack.

That’s all it takes to pick up your card information and initiate an mpos transaction. This is no different than if you tapped the card yourself.

It shows up in the system as a “card present” purchase, so it raises few red flags within the point-of-sale system.

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