What in the world are RFID blocking wallets that we keep hearing about? Well RFID chips are as numerous as fleas on a dog these days and are found in just about every product in Wal Mart that costs over $10.

Those parallel bars that you walk through at the entrance of the store pick up these chips and if they have not been deactivated by the clerk you will be embarrassed as the alarm goes off.

Gas card companies use them in "Easy Passes" that let you touch your card to a reader and there are now even Visa and Mastercards with RFID chips embedded that you can swipe near a register and pay. The new United States Passport contains an RFID chip with all of your personal info on it.

There are sites on the Internet where hackers can go and get the plans for a RFID sniffer that they can discretely aim at passers by and just like those devices at the entrances of Wal Mart they can capture the contents of these cards, duplicate them with equipment they can buy on the internet, and use them all over town before you even know.

In theory a terrorist or criminal could sniff your passport, print a fake one with his picture and use it for illegal activity although there have not been any cases found yet.

You can protect the contents of your wallet by using an RFID blocking wallet that contains a metallic fabric that absorbs the radio waves from hackers transmitters.

RFID chips only work when energized from another device and using a RFID blocking wallet or passport holder renders these hackers equipment useless. Makers of these wallets include Travelon which makes several styles and Datasafe.

Both makers guarantee that RFID chips will not transmit through their wallets.