TECH-savvy fraudsters are using smartphones and tiny radio scanners to steal Gold Coasters’ credit card details without ever touching their victims’ wallets or handbags.

The cutting-edge technology “skims” the electronic details of the cards just by being placed near them.

At least four people had their credit cards skimmed at Robina Town Centre this month after thieves cloned the details and then made online transactions of up to $1300.

Radio-frequency identification technology is used in many credit cards, most commonly used for tap-to-pay systems such as MasterCard’s PayPass or Visa payWave.

The card’s chip stores information, including the card number, the cardholder’s name and the expiry date.

The level of sophistication even took police by surprise, with Acting Detective Superintendent Terry Lawrence from the fraud and cybercrime group saying they were aware of the issue but had received no complaints because most people went straight to their banks.

“It’s freaky, if you ask me,” he said.

“When banks and organisations put in measures to protect other people’s identities and their income, criminals will take whatever action to subvert that and take those things.

“It’s an ongoing issue of concern.”

Robert Ingram, 37, said he was electronically pickpocketed while shopping at Robina Town Centre last weekend but he only realised the next day when he had no money left.

“I told my bank and they noticed a weird online transaction for $170 at Microsoft,” the Upper Coomera resident said.

“I didn’t report it to police because I have no clue who could have done it.

“The bank said it would take six to eight weeks to get my money back.”

A Southport woman also had her card details stolen at the same shopping centre and it was used to pay for a $1300 transaction at Apple.

Armourcard co-founder Tyler Harris said card-skimming was an “invisible crime”.

“It’s very hard to detect when it happened to you — not like the old days of being bumped and pickpocketed,” he said.

“Anyone can do it but essentially there are two types of criminals.

“The first ones are the opportunists in a mall who will have a smartphone and they’ll target someone and follow them up an escalator for example and skim their card in their backpocket.

“The real criminals are more organised and will use high-powered skimmers and team it with a boosted antenna, they generally harvest more cards faster and send them offshore instantly.”

The Bulletin downloaded one of the apps, scanned a card in seconds and using the details was able to purchase an item from Amazon, without having to enter a CVV number.