Right here’s how the most typical scams focusing on Apple Pay customers work and what you are able to do to remain one step forward
22 Jan 2026
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6 min. learn
Apple Pay is clearly a success with customers. Based on estimates, it had a whole lot of thousands and thousands of worldwide customers and processed trillions of funds in 2025 alone. However the place there may be cash to be made, scammers is not going to be far behind.
Apple is well-known for designing digital ecosystems with safety and privateness in thoughts. That’s why Apple Pay makes use of biometric authentication (i.e., Face ID) to authorize funds. And it options measures comparable to tokenization, so hackers can’t steal card particulars straight out of your machine/pockets and your purchases stay protected. However the platform and its stable fame can nonetheless be abused for scams, usually by “hacking“ the proprietor of the machine/pockets.
Google Pay customers ought to take notice too, as frequent scams primarily search to govern consumer habits, slightly than exploit technological gaps. In the meantime, the near-field communication (NFC) expertise that’s on the coronary heart of cellular fee providers is more and more within the crosshairs of some ne’er-do-wells – ESET researchers have discovered that detections of NFC-abusing Android malware virtually doubled between the primary and second halves of 2025.
Listed here are some frequent scams focusing on Apple Pay customers.
High six scams focusing on Apple Pay customers
Apple Pay scammers are often after your monetary data, your cash or your Apple ID and logins/2FA codes. Listed here are the most typical forms of fraud:
Phishing
You obtain a textual content message, cellphone name or e-mail often claiming your particulars must be verified. The lure could possibly be a prize it’s essential reclaim, or a refund that is because of you. Or it could possibly be a pretend story about how your Apple Pay account has been suspended, your card was added to Apple Pay or related pretexts. Clicking by way of on the hyperlinks supplied will often take you to a phishing web site the place you’ll be requested to offer your checking account or card particulars. A lot the identical state of affairs happens with smishing texts that both ask you click on a hyperlink or name a cellphone quantity..
In some circumstances, the scammer might harvest these particulars in actual time. If this occurs, your financial institution will ship a one-time passcode to verify the brand new setup. The phishing web site instantaneously requests this code. For those who enter it, the fraudster could have your card particulars added to their pockets.
Market
A pretend purchaser connects stolen playing cards to their Apple Pay account and makes use of them to buy an merchandise (often of excessive worth) that you simply’re promoting on a digital market. As soon as the reputable cardholder finds out what’s occurred, they’ll dispute the fees with their financial institution. You’ll then be ordered to reimburse them. By this time, after all, you’ve already shipped your merchandise to the scammer.
Overpayment
A fraudster messages you about an merchandise you’re promoting on a market. They pay however ship you an excessive amount of cash. They ask you to refund then the distinction, utilizing Apple Money (the peer-to-peer service obtainable to Apple Pay clients within the US) or one other money app (e.g., Venmo, Zelle). It seems the customer used a stolen card, which means you lose the product, the unique fee they made and the refund quantity.
Unsolicited fee
Much like the above rip-off, besides you obtain a fee out of the blue from somebody utilizing Apple Pay. They ask you to return it through Apple Money or a present card. As soon as once more, you’ll ultimately be required to pay the unique quantity again to the rightful proprietor of the cardboard that was utilized by the scammer. And, after all, you’ll be out of pocket to the tune of the refund.
Faux receipt
Scammers agree to purchase an merchandise you’re promoting on-line. They ship you a screenshot displaying they’ve paid through Apple Pay. They might declare the cash is pending or in ‘escrow’ till you ship it and supply a monitoring quantity. In reality, they’ve by no means paid – Apple Pay doesn’t maintain funds in escrow.
Public Wi-Fi
Hackers might run an “evil twin” hotspot in a public space like a café or airport that mimics a reputable public Wi-Fi community. They use it to watch site visitors to and out of your machine, and will redirect you to a pretend Apple portal so as to harvest your Apple ID and password. These can, in some circumstances, be used for makes an attempt to empty your Apple Money steadiness.
Pink flags to watch out for
For those who spot any of the next, it’s probably you might have been contacted by a scammer:
- A textual content, e-mail or cellphone utilizing urgency to hurry you into making an unwise resolution, comparable to sharing your logins or monetary data with somebody you’ve by no means met. This can be a traditional social engineering method.
- A request on your 2FA codes, which is able to enable the scammer to hijack your Apple account and/or add your card to their pockets. Neither Apple nor your financial institution will ever ask for these.
- Being requested to ship again some or all of a fee you’ve simply acquired through Apple Pay must be a crimson flag, as ought to being instructed to take action through one other methodology, comparable to present card or Apple Money.
- A requirement so that you can ship your gadgets earlier than you’ve acquired fee (accompanied with a screenshot alleging the customer has already paid).
- Any unsolicited textual content, name or e-mail by which the caller/sender says they work for Apple or your financial institution, and requesting delicate private/monetary/login data.
Staying secure
Apple Pay scams could seem disconcertingly widespread, however holding your private data, cash and accounts secure and safe isn’t as troublesome as you would possibly suppose. First, take a second to acknowledge the most typical crimson flags and Apple Pay scams, as listed above. Maintain checking in occasionally to refresh your reminiscence and replace your information as these scams evolve. Subsequent, contemplate:
- Enabling stolen machine safety to make sure delicate adjustments require Face ID. Settings > Face ID & Passcode > Stolen Gadget Safety.
- Turning on “enable notifications” for all playing cards in your Apple Pay pockets, so that you’re alerted as quickly as a fee is made.
- If shopping for an merchandise on-line, use solely the playing cards in your Apple Pay account that enable for chargebacks, in case the vendor is a scammer.
- For those who use a public Wi-Fi, be sure to use a digital personal community (VPN) in order that your connection is stored safe and your knowledge can’t be intercepted.
- Think about using a VPN supplied by a trusted cybersecurity vendor, which can additionally embody different providers to maintain iOS customers secure on-line, together with id safety that features darkish internet scanning.
For those who suppose you’ve been scammed
For those who suppose you’ve fallen sufferer to an Apple Pay rip-off, time is of the essence. It might be potential to cancel a fee, by clicking by way of within the Apple Pay app, or contacting your financial institution. For those who’ve unwittingly shared your Apple ID/logins or card data, change your passwords instantly and get in touch with your financial institution to cancel and reissue your playing cards.
It might even be value reporting fraud to the Federal Commerce Fee (FTC) or, in Europe, the related authorities, which might be reached through Europol.
Digital fee providers and wallets make our lives simpler. However additionally they make it faster and simpler to fall for fraud. It pays to decelerate and suppose for a second when shopping for, promoting and reviewing messages on-line.
