paying for gasoline in France

I detect a teenie bit of Chicken Little. Yes, Chip and Pin is steadily growing and pushing magnetic strip in many unattended places. That must be some old mileage credit card. BOAC became British Airways (now BA) in 1974. Most French autoroute pay stations have attended lanes. There is quite a lot of NFT here - near field technology - where you can tap a credit or debit card on a reader and a small payment can be taken. Many of my friends use them. None of them walks around with a lead lined box or pocket. Nobody I know has had any "info" lifted or had any ID theft due to this. I have never seen lead lined pockets or wallets or anything else on sale here. NFT can only read the card to take a payment if it is Really Near the appropriate machine - hence the name - and NFT is becoming more popular in the US. I don't remember the names but I am confident about that. Are lead lined things all the rage in the US now? If you want to search for previous threads use the "search" box at the top right of each page here on the Helpline. Me, I don't believe the sky is falling...

"...Because your info can be detected from the card, it comes with a special pocket (lead lined?), and you can buy wallets in Europe that also have protective liner built in...." Don't waste your money on these lined wallet thingys. You literally have a greater chance of winning the lottery than some thief "scanning" your card with some sort of homemade wireless device. Even if it did happen your protected against fraudulent use. The only thing stored on these cards is a reference number the banks use to find your account. They don't contain your address, pin number, medical data or anything else. Walking around with a smartphone on standby is a bigger invasion of your privacy. I have a contactless Paypass card from Chase, and I use it extensively here in New York, and overseas. It's especially useful in London as a couple of my favorite retailers use it: Pret a Manger and Boots. I find paypass to be a great convenience, just hold my wallet up to the reader, wait for the beep and I'm out of there. Very soon you'll be able to do the same thing with your cell phone.

Since I have had pieces of "sky fall down" on previous trips, I probably am more worried than someone who lives close enough to France to have more information, so it's good to have your input. (the "lead lined" was supposed to be a joke-obviously didn't translate)

It is true that there are many unattended gas stations in the rural areas of France that only take chip and pin cards. If a station has an attendant, you can usually use your magnetic strip card because the attendant can swipe it for you. But the unattended stations have no one at all on the premises and so the magnetic strip cards can not be used there. We have driven in rural areas where we drove for many many miles, getting more nervous as we went, before finding a staffed station. Perhaps you will have no problem, but if you are driving in rural areas it is best not to let the tank get too low before looking for a place to fill up, just in case.

But the lead lining or AL lined is true. There are companies marketing such billfolds based on that exact fear which, of course, the marketing company is spreading. The same fear is pushed for passports. None of it is accurate but if you are willing to believe or to repeat it, it adds to the sales under the idea - you cannot be to careful. The same goes for backpack with steel mesh. It is easy to make money on people's fears.

Susan, To answer one of your questions, yes, I am aware of this development. The move to "Chip & PIN" cards (both debit and credit) has been ongoing in Europe, Canada and elsewhere for several years, and in some locations these cards are the only option. A few examples (as noted in your post): Automated Fuel Pumps and Ticket Kiosks. The automated ticket Kiosks at CDG will ONLY accept C&P cards and also Euro coins as I recall. Using a staffed ticket office is no guarantee that you'll be able to use your magnetic stripe credit card. I bought tickets at Amsterdam Central a few months ago, and they had large signs on each ticket window stating that they ONLY accept C&P cards - no exceptions. Just to clarify the technology used in the cards. The "chip" card must be in-serted into the POS Terminal and connect electrically with the terminal for the duration of the transaction. The "NFT" part (RFID) simply has to be in proximity to the POS terminal, and the information is transmitted via wireless. One of the brand names for this is PayPass. Regarding the "lead lined walled", I've seen demonstrations where NFT/RFID cards were scanned surreptitiously using only a cheap Reader connected to a Laptop. While this is relatively easy to do, I've never heard of anyone actually being "scammed" by this (that's not to say that it hasn't happened). All of the new cards I've received are equipped with both a "chip" as well as an RFID device. Based on posts here on the HelpLine, there are apparently one or two Banks in the U.S. that offer "Chip & PIN" cards, but they're expensive. Some here have used Travelex pre-loaded cards. Hopefully someone can post information on their experiences with those. Good luck!

All the autobahn tolls we've been through have at least one manned booth. That's how we clean out our change purse. True, There are credit card only and by-pass/pre-paid pass lanes as well. They probably got in the wrong lane. For the gas, some stations are not manned and do not take cash. That's why a savvy traveler wouldn't let their tank get lower than half to quarter if they know they're going to a rural area.