Contactless card payments provide a good way of paying for goods but the cards themselves are far from secure, the deputy director of the Dutch payment association says in Monday’s AD.

The cards are only safe from being emptied by thieves if carried in a metal case or wrapped in aluminium foil, Gijs Boudewijn, of Betaalvereniging Nederland, told the paper.

Criminals can easily transfer the balance from cards using special apparatus by standing next to someone with a contactless card or walking past a payment terminal, he told the paper.

The same applies to mobile phones which are equipped to make contact-free payments, he said.

Some 25% of the 24 million bank cards in circulation in the Netherlands are equipped with the technology for contactless payments. The system allows two consecutive payments of up to €25 to be made, without the use of a pin number.

Boudewijn, who carries his own cards in a metal case, said tests have shown this form of theft is possible but that his organisation is unaware of it actually happening in real life.