Thieves may be able to use bank cards for months after they have been reported lost or stolen due to the way the tap and pay feature works.
Payments from contactless cards are made offline, which means the bank does not have to authorise the payment at the point of sale - transactions are approved automatically.
The validity and status is not checked at the till meaning that stolen cards do not flag up.
Even though there is a cap of £30 on all tap and pay purchases, crooks could still use the card for lots of low-cost transactions.
Banks have been trying to fix the glitch with security experts drafted in to tighten up the contactless system and prevent stolen cards from working.
The UK Cards Association says fraud on contactless cards is extremely rare and customers are fully protected for fraudulent payments.
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