Tap to pay on iPhone
There's no denying that Apple Pay is a convenient way to make purchases, but its ease of use also means it's an easy way to get scammed. Here's how to prevent this and what to do if it happens.
TikToker Hanna (@maaahannaa) thought she was doing a good deed by helping two men raise money for their community college. Unfortunately, she just fell victim to a new kind of scam.
In a now-viral video, Hanna talks about how she was shopping at Target when two young men approached her and sold chocolates to raise money for their Christian community college. Hanna decided to buy $10 worth of chocolates to support the cause.
Hanna had the Apple Pay function on her phone to buy the chocolates when one of the young men tapped hers with his phone, instead of letting her initiate the transaction.
Hanna asked for a receipt when the boys immediately started apologizing. Apparently they “accidentally” charged her $975, an amount not exactly close to $10.
“At this point I still wanted to believe him because he seemed very apologetic, and I was very naive,” Hanna said in a follow-up video. “I had a really long day and I didn't want to have to deal with this now.”
Hanna contacted Apple Pay support after the transaction, hoping it would be resolved quickly. However, Apple told her that they did not have enough evidence to prove that she did not intend to pay the said amount.
She then contacted Goldman Sachs, the bank associated with the Apple cardand was told it could take up to three months to resolve the dispute.
Sure, it's easy to point fingers and assume it would never happen to you. These scams often target people who are in a hurry but still want to help.
And, like The daily dot points out, you don't even have to be contacted directly by a scammer for this to happen. Scammers can hover near point-of-service terminals at high-traffic events, such as music festivals, and swoop in to “steal” tap-to-pay transactions.
Still, it's worth staying vigilant, especially as we're likely to see an increase in these types of scams as tap-to-pay becomes more widespread. When you're asked to pay with a tap-to-pay, make sure you can see the transaction amount before you double-click to open Apple Pay.
When you are in crowded places such as festivals, fairs or concerts, avoid calling up Apple Pay early. Tap-to-pay uses Near Field Communication (NFC) chips, which have a distance of about ten centimeters. Wait until you hold your device over a trusted contactless payment point to initiate payment.
And if you are being scammed, contact the bank in question. Although Apple your iPhonethey have no control over how you use it.
Your bank or credit card company, on the other hand, does have a say in where your money goes.