How to block/kill RFID chips

Step 4How to kill your RFID chip

How to kill your RFID chip
In this step I will describe a few ways to permanently disable or kill an RFID chip. Most products that you own that contain RFID tags belong to you, so you have the right to destroy them; however, tampering with a US passport is a federal offense. Luckily there are ways to kill an RFID tag without leaving any evidence, so as long as you are careful, it would be pretty hard to prove that you did anything illegal.



-The easiest way to kill an RFID, and be sure that it is dead, is to throw it in the microwave for 5 seconds. Doing this will literally melt the chip and antenna making it impossible for the chip to ever be read again. Unfortunately this method has a certain fire risk associated with it. Killing an RFID chip this way will also leave visible evidence that it has been tampered with, making it an unsuitable method for killing the RFID tag in passports. Doing this to a credit card will probably also screw with the magnetic strip on the back making it un-swipeable.

-The second, slightly more convert and less damaging, way to kill an RFID tag is by piercing the chip with a knife or other sharp object. This can only be done if you know exactly where the chip is located within the tag. This method also leaves visible evidence of intentional damage done to the chip, so it is unsuitable for passports.

-The third method is cutting the antenna very close to the chip. By doing this the chip will have no way of receiving electricity, or transmitting its signal back to the reader. This technique also leaves minimal signs of damage, so it would probably not be a good idea to use this on a passport.

-The last (and most covert) method for destroying a RFID tag is to hit it with a hammer. Just pick up any ordinary hammer and give the chip a few swift hard whacks. This will destroy the chip, and leave no evidence that the tag has been tampered with. This method is suitable for destroying the tags in passports, because there will be no proof that you intentionally destroyed the chip.
« Previous StepDownload PDFView All StepsNext Step »
109 comments
1-40 of 109next »
Feb 8, 2012. 3:44 PMwaterlubber says:
How about this super easy method:
You will needs:
-Electromagnet
DO NOT TRY W/ PACEMAKER. BAD IDEA.
Lets see...
The electromagnet generates a magnetic field that become induced (like a transformer) into the RFID chip, frying it. Yum! Fried RFID...
Jan 5, 2012. 3:02 AMariangaronoa says:
What if I had a eye2chip2computer2satelite. How do I disable it without hurting my eye.
Apr 27, 2008. 5:56 PM2dMaxf says:
How would you kill a rfid chip that is injected under the skin? They put these in crazies and people with Alzheimers desease. Got any idea? Magnets maybe?
Sep 11, 2011. 11:56 PMkgee says:
can't you use a small controlled emp?

or can't you use a RFID writer? i seen somethig on this site a while agot about that.
Sep 1, 2011. 4:36 AMCapfl2k5 says:
Maybe its a good idea to able to track pop pop when he wanders off. And the crazies when they are on the loose.
Jul 1, 2011. 10:43 PMfryrocket says:
I think I would hit them with the hammer method. The micro wave would be to cruel. Its a good question and would like to know myself.
Aug 4, 2011. 2:04 PM-max- says:
yea. just wac a hobo with a hammer!!!
May 22, 2011. 9:03 PMlanceearlhaines says:
Any device to overload the chip is a bad idea. You could get burned. Use a sterilized very sharp knife, preferably wielded by a doctor. Intramuscular would definitely require a procedure from a doctor or Vet. Aliens put one in me and I cut it out! J.K. Then microwave that sucker and watch the sparks fly!
Nov 30, 2011. 10:16 AMjfletcher7 says:
I am NOT NOT NOT GOING TO BE CHIPPED!!!
May 31, 2011. 6:34 PMNicola Tesla says:
They (not aliens) are going to put them in everybody so they know where you are.
Jun 12, 2011. 1:37 PMconradchase says:
Who are "they" that you speak of?
Jan 16, 2012. 1:51 PMjUST a cOUNTRY bOY says:
wHAT PLANET ARE YOU FROM?
Jun 27, 2011. 6:28 PMNicola Tesla says:
the new world leeder.
Jul 3, 2011. 7:34 PMwsimmons2 says:
"new world leeder?" I'm sorry, were you trying to say leader or order...bless your heart
Jul 4, 2011. 8:43 AMNicola Tesla says:
ohh thank you
Dec 8, 2011. 3:34 PMlanceearlhaines says:
Take me to your "Leeder"....LOL
Jun 27, 2011. 11:49 AMimarcianoloco says:
T.P.T.B. and it's really creepy...
Sep 8, 2010. 6:02 AMTreknology says:
My suggestion is using a Xenon flash gun from a camera. Get the glass tube as close to the "grain of rice" without electrocuting the patient and fire it several times. The random electrons emitted with the light flash should distress the silicon components of the RFID.

Remember that an EM Pulse is erroneously named. It is actually a Charged Particle Pulse. Those confused electrons and protons can overload the PN junctions in semiconductors and render them inoperative.
Jan 16, 2012. 1:52 PMjUST a cOUNTRY bOY says:
tHANKS tREK.
sOUNDS WORTH A TRY WHEN THE TIME COMES.
Dec 8, 2011. 3:59 PMlanceearlhaines says:
you are wrong about EM pulse.
Photons (electromagnetic radiation) a.k.a. light is what is emitted, not charged particles. They excite the electrons in electronics to the point where they escape the metal and the metal becomes so hot from the rapidly moving electrons that it melts and burns whatever is touching it.

Nuclear decay , fusion, or fission produce nuclear radiation in the form of charged particles. Some is ionizing radiation. Our earths magnetic field deflects these coming from our sun making life possible. Some charged particles "fall into" the poles giving us aurora borealis and aurora australis. When the charged particles strike the gases in the atmosphere they excite them and they glow much as a neon light does.

The point to a EMP is to strategically knock out electronic devices minimizing casualties. otherwise just use an A Bomb you get both EMP and nuclear charged particle radiation.
Feb 2, 2012. 1:48 AMTreknology says:
If a Xenon tube fired with 100% efficiency, there would be no escaping electrons. Just like a CRT, there are plenty of wild electrons escaping into the environment.

My suggestion is relying on the "super-sensitivity" of RFID chips. They rely on an induced current to commence operation, so a good whack about the electronic antenna should be pretty painful.

The alternative of modifying a microwave oven to attack that part of the body infested with a chip is extreme, haphazard and could do long term damage.

If these chips are to be embedded in the back of the hand, I see chain-mesh gloves suddenly becoming fashionable.
Feb 5, 2012. 12:27 AMlanceearlhaines says:
Sure wild electrons are escaping atoms all the time but without an accelerator and a sufficiently focused beam of high intensity, the ionizing effect of randomly escaped electrons from devices is quite minimal.

Furthermore, Without a significant fluctuation in the surrounding MAGNETIC field an overload current will not be induced in the sensitive RFID chip. Simply hoping escaped electrons from a device designed to create visible light, I would bet my life, is not adequate to fry an RFID. Just think of the thousands of cells and layer of fat not to mention the capsule around the chip that can absorb or deflect the incoming electrons. We are talking billions of atoms in the way.
Sep 2, 2010. 2:41 PMrrrmanion says:
go have an injection/ blood drawn from there, in the hope the needle pierces the tag at a mental hospital? get sedated there...
Jan 17, 2010. 5:01 PMalmightyally says:
 using a tazer close to where the chip is implanted should fry it, itd hurt like hell though.
May 8, 2009. 11:10 AMmsw100 says:
Put them in a large micro
Sep 6, 2010. 8:20 AMpranavsharma2504 says:
Yeah! Nice idea!!
Sep 2, 2010. 5:41 PMdaltonjcw says:
CAT Scan?
Jul 11, 2009. 10:51 PMburton6054 says:
you my friend just made my day hahahaha
May 7, 2009. 3:03 PMand7barton says:
If we ever sleepwalk into a compulsory injected microchip society, the answer to this would be to cut the skin and pop the capsule back out as soon as you get home from the "Citizen's Implant Centre". Then you can tape it onto the outside of your arm, and remove it when you choose to.
Jan 16, 2012. 1:53 PMjUST a cOUNTRY bOY says:
iDEAS ARE GREAT IN THEORY.
tHESE THINGS ARE MUCH MORE COMPICATED IN FACT.
May 27, 2009. 10:22 AMJawatech says:
I can't wait!
May 5, 2009. 4:58 AMwupme says:
You might want to take a look into the RFID Zipper of the CCC (Chaos Computer Club Germany)
https://events.ccc.de/congress/2005/static/r/f/i/RFID-Zapper(EN)_77f3.html

Its the only way (besides the hammer method) that leaves no trace that you destroyed the chip.
The Microwave is bad idea, it can happen that the place where the chip looks slightly burned.
Feb 8, 2012. 3:48 PMwaterlubber says:
Chrome is yappin about how this is an untrusted site...you sure 'bout this?
Sep 18, 2010. 8:25 PMmijdtr says:
firefox says the link posted is an "untrusted connection" jus sayin,,,
Sep 6, 2010. 8:23 AMpranavsharma2504 says:
Lol... Gotcha boss! We were planning to put the guy in the micro... May we experiment on ya??? :P
Mar 31, 2009. 1:13 PMNobodyInParticular says:
Waving a magnet around would not induce much current at all, much less enough to destroy it. Some RFID tags (especially ones used as anti-theft devices in stores) have a magnetically-activated reset switch. I don't think one used for tagging pets would have a reset switch, though.
Apr 15, 2010. 10:49 PMNyxius says:
They don't use RFID tags in most stores. 
1) the technology is too expensive to deploy on such a massive scale
2) the technology used is much older than RFID
3) there are several designs, but most use a tuned coil (with no chip), or an electromagnetic "flutter" design (think relay style component).

The basic idea is that current tech looks for variations in a static field to detect the tag.  That is why sometime the sensors go off without an actual tag tripping it.   Things like cellphone antennas, metal loops on a purse, etc.

The register deactivators are basic EMP emitters that fry the crap out of the coil and blow a simple fuse inside of it.  That is why you don't want to put you credit card on one of those pads.

Those pads emit a field several times larger than the RFID zapper.
May 2, 2008. 8:10 PMG MAN says:
I too would like that info. I don't think magnets will? I have a dog with one. I really don't want to cut it out. there must be some way.
Aug 14, 2011. 6:36 PMcunningfellow says:
I had my dog injected with a chip when she was at the vet for pneumonia. I should have waited to get the chip done and saved $80. She died two days later at the Vet. I asked him if he could remove the chip - he said that the body moves them around, and finding something smaller than a grain of rice would be very expensive.
The problem would be just as bad in humans - and I certainly don't want to go cutting around in my arm if I ever get forcibly injected (or wherever else they decide to put it). But I certainly would like to be able to block or 'zap' it.

Please can we get back to blocking or disabling them - I am pretty sure removal without the aid of a fully equipped hospital isn't viable.
Dec 29, 2011. 7:46 AMewawni says:
I would be happy to make a small incision with antiseptic equipment given the proper parameters. No big deal.
1-40 of 109next »

Pro

Get More Out of Instructables

Already have an Account?

close

All Steps Viewing
View all steps of an Instructable on the same page when you're a Pro Member.

Upgrade to Pro today!
146
Followers
11
Author:w1n5t0n
Taking back the world, one hacked game console at a time ... Have you ever felt like the technology you love could be used against you? Or that the government is watching you .. a little too closel...
more »