Amos
Most smart cards and satellite cards are not memory readable visa (sic) vis sensitive data, though if you allow the internal embedded processor as part of the equation then I guess it is being read.
Smart crooks actually remove the plastic covering and look with a microscope (scanning or otherwise) and read the metalization or the stored charge to determine the stored data. Then clone the card/chip. Siemens have a recent patent involving soldering two chips together such that separating them destroys the data.

I once expanded a used toopaste tube and printed-up labels with "Spirit Level Bubbles" - this was in the days when home printing presses were extremely rare. It was a pre-emptive strike as I was a young apprentice at the time and was ready for them.