Right here’s how the commonest scams concentrating 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 successful with shoppers. In response to estimates, it had lots of of hundreds of thousands of worldwide customers and processed trillions of funds in 2025 alone. However the place there may be cash to be made, scammers won’t 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 resembling tokenization, so hackers can’t steal card particulars straight out of your system/pockets and your purchases stay protected. However the platform and its strong fame can nonetheless be abused for scams, sometimes by “hacking“ the proprietor of the system/pockets.
Google Pay customers ought to take be aware too, as widespread scams primarily search to control consumer habits, somewhat than exploit technological gaps. In the meantime, the near-field communication (NFC) know-how that’s on the coronary heart of cell fee companies is more and more within the crosshairs of some ne’er-do-wells – ESET researchers have discovered that detections of NFC-abusing Android malware nearly doubled between the primary and second halves of 2025.
Listed below are some widespread scams concentrating on Apple Pay customers.
Prime six scams concentrating on Apple Pay customers
Apple Pay scammers are normally after your monetary info, your cash or your Apple ID and logins/2FA codes. Listed below are the commonest sorts of fraud:
Phishing
You obtain a textual content message, telephone name or electronic mail normally claiming your particulars have to be verified. The lure might be a prize it’s good to reclaim, or a refund that is because of you. Or it might 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 means of on the hyperlinks offered will normally 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 situation happens with smishing texts that both ask you click on a hyperlink or name a telephone quantity..
In some instances, the scammer could harvest these particulars in actual time. If this occurs, your financial institution will ship a one-time passcode to substantiate the brand new setup. The phishing web site instantaneously requests this code. Should you enter it, the fraudster can 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 (normally of excessive worth) that you simply’re promoting on a digital market. As soon as the official 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 out there to Apple Pay clients within the US) or one other money app (e.g., Venmo, Zelle). It seems the client used a stolen card, that 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 reward card. As soon as once more, you’ll finally 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 could declare the cash is pending or in ‘escrow’ till you ship it and supply a monitoring quantity. In actual fact, 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 official public Wi-Fi community. They use it to observe visitors to and out of your system, and will redirect you to a pretend Apple portal with a view to harvest your Apple ID and password. These can, in some instances, be used for makes an attempt to empty your Apple Money stability.
Pink flags to watch out for
Should you spot any of the next, it’s probably you could have been contacted by a scammer:
- A textual content, electronic mail or telephone utilizing urgency to hurry you into making an unwise determination, resembling sharing your logins or monetary info with somebody you’ve by no means met. This can be a traditional social engineering approach.
- A request in 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 obtained through Apple Pay needs to be a pink flag, as ought to being instructed to take action through one other methodology, resembling reward card or Apple Money.
- A requirement so that you can ship your objects earlier than you’ve obtained fee (accompanied with a screenshot alleging the client has already paid).
- Any unsolicited textual content, name or electronic mail wherein the caller/sender says they work for Apple or your financial institution, and requesting delicate private/monetary/login info.
Staying secure
Apple Pay scams could seem disconcertingly widespread, however preserving your private info, cash and accounts secure and safe isn’t as tough as you would possibly assume. First, take a second to acknowledge the commonest pink flags and Apple Pay scams, as listed above. Maintain checking in occasionally to refresh your reminiscence and replace your data as these scams evolve. Subsequent, contemplate:
- Enabling stolen system safety to make sure delicate modifications require Face ID. Settings > Face ID & Passcode > Stolen Machine 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.
- Should you use a public Wi-Fi, be sure that to use a digital non-public community (VPN) in order that your connection is stored safe and your knowledge can’t be intercepted.
- Think about using a VPN offered by a trusted cybersecurity vendor, which can additionally embody different companies to maintain iOS customers secure on-line, together with id safety that features darkish internet scanning.
Should you assume you’ve been scammed
Should you assume you’ve fallen sufferer to an Apple Pay rip-off, time is of the essence. It could be potential to cancel a fee, by clicking by means of within the Apple Pay app, or contacting your financial institution. Should you’ve unwittingly shared your Apple ID/logins or card info, change your passwords instantly and make contact with your financial institution to cancel and reissue your playing cards.
It could even be price reporting fraud to the Federal Commerce Fee (FTC) or, in Europe, the related authorities, which will be reached through Europol.
Digital fee companies and wallets make our lives simpler. However in addition they make it faster and simpler to fall for fraud. It pays to decelerate and assume for a second when shopping for, promoting and reviewing messages on-line.
