Right here’s how the commonest 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 successful with customers. In keeping with estimates, it had a whole bunch of hundreds of thousands of world 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 reminiscent of tokenization, so hackers can’t steal card particulars instantly out of your gadget/pockets and your purchases stay protected. However the platform and its strong repute can nonetheless be abused for scams, usually by “hacking“ the proprietor of the gadget/pockets.
Google Pay customers ought to take be aware too, as widespread scams primarily search to control person habits, quite than exploit technological gaps. In the meantime, the near-field communication (NFC) expertise that’s on the coronary heart of cell 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 below are some widespread scams focusing on Apple Pay customers.
High six scams focusing on Apple Pay customers
Apple Pay scammers are normally after your monetary data, your cash or your Apple ID and logins/2FA codes. Listed below are the commonest forms of fraud:
Phishing
You obtain a textual content message, telephone name or electronic mail normally claiming your particulars must be verified. The lure may very well be a prize it’s essential to reclaim, or a refund that is because of you. Or it may very well be a faux story about how your Apple Pay account has been suspended, your card was added to Apple Pay or related pretexts. Clicking by on the hyperlinks supplied will normally take you to a phishing web site the place you’ll be requested to supply 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 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. In case you enter it, the fraudster can have your card particulars added to their pockets.
Market
A faux 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 just’re promoting on a digital market. As soon as the legit 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, in fact, 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 accessible 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
Just 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, in fact, 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 exhibiting 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 legit public Wi-Fi community. They use it to observe site visitors to and out of your gadget, and will redirect you to a faux Apple portal so as to harvest your Apple ID and password. These can, in some instances, be used for makes an attempt to empty your Apple Money stability.
Purple flags to watch out for
In case you spot any of the next, it’s seemingly you’ve been contacted by a scammer:
- A textual content, electronic mail or telephone utilizing urgency to hurry you into making an unwise choice, reminiscent of sharing your logins or monetary data with somebody you’ve by no means met. It is a basic social engineering approach.
- 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 obtained through Apple Pay must be a purple flag, as ought to being instructed to take action through one other technique, reminiscent of 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 through 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 appear disconcertingly widespread, however holding your private data, cash and accounts secure and safe isn’t as troublesome as you may assume. First, take a second to acknowledge the commonest purple flags and Apple Pay scams, as listed above. Preserve checking in every now and then to refresh your reminiscence and replace your information as these scams evolve. Subsequent, contemplate:
- Enabling stolen gadget 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.
- In case you use a public Wi-Fi, be certain 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 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 net scanning.
In case you assume you’ve been scammed
In case you assume you’ve fallen sufferer to an Apple Pay rip-off, time is of the essence. It could be doable to cancel a fee, by clicking by within the Apple Pay app, or contacting your financial institution. In case you’ve unwittingly shared your Apple ID/logins or card data, change your passwords instantly and phone your financial institution to cancel and reissue your playing cards.
It could even be value reporting fraud to the Federal Commerce Fee (FTC) or, in Europe, the related authorities, which could 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 assume for a second when shopping for, promoting and reviewing messages on-line.
