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They're basically the same thing with different ranges. NFC has a range of about 4cm, RFID goes up to a couple of metres I think. NFC is generally used when you want to make sure someone gets really close, which is generally the case with payments. You don't want someone able to interact with your credit card from several metres away without you knowing about it.


Presumably, just getting close to the card is not enough to initiate a payment? Most tables/desks are less than 4cm thick...


No, it's not sufficient (you'd need something pretending to be a terminal) but it is necessary which makes it much harder with NFC than RFID.




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