No the vulnerability doesn't exist with your current wallet because it has analogue trappings to prevent theft. For example my current contents require PIN as well as signature as well photo IDs on cards.

This type of fraud is so high in Britain that my cards issued there have an extra chip in the cards to slow down theives.

Although I was living in Britain when they first released 'chip and PIN' and the crims had working scanners 2-3 days after launch.

The level of determination and skill the bad guys have is amazing, and I currently see this cell phone move as a step in there favour and not mine.

The other aspect is people leave cell phones laying around, they don't tend to leave there wallets. I guess having it fully tied to your bank account will add a level of apranoia which may stop this behaviour. But for example at my last work place it was the joke to wait till someone had left there iPhone at lunch, slip it into your pocket, and after getting back to teh office convince the person they had to go back and get it. Not funny when its you, but funny enough after you watch a work mate walk several blocks and back fuming because he knows one of us has it.

Loosing your keys is not the same as for it to be effective the criminal needs to know where to use the keys, in a sense it has to be premeditated, a completely different criminal scenario.

And yeah I know a few people who have already changed their house doors to keypads and electric terminals. Guess I have a few niche geek friends, but that future is alreayd ehre for some.

Signatures are a joke, nobody checks them (I used to work in retail). And even if people did check them, they're trivial to forge (there's a copy of the signature on the card telling you what it's supposed to look like!)

Importantly, it is utterly futile to expect a shop assistant (let's say a waifish 17-year-old girl) to tell a customer (for our purposes today, a 30-year old champion cage fighter still bruised from his last bout) that their signature doesn't look right and they can't complete the transaction. Chip and PIN means any blame and bad feeling is shifted to the terminal -- for better or for worse, "computer says no".

Yep, I picked up a trick while backpackign across Asia for this. My signture is upside down on my card. So if I refute any claim that appears I can point out the fact and show at what point the transactions started.

I travell alot and I've had my gear stolen a few times, and atleast once a year (usually a month after I get back) I have to go through claims processes to remove charges which start appearing. Total pain, and why I'm suspicious of another system that looks atleast as bad as whats already out there.