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 successful with customers. Based on estimates, it had tons of of tens of millions 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 corresponding 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 popularity can nonetheless be abused for scams, sometimes by “hacking“ the proprietor of the machine/pockets.
Google Pay customers ought to take observe too, as frequent scams primarily search to govern person habits, moderately 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 nearly 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 normally 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, telephone name or e mail normally claiming your particulars must be verified. The lure might be a prize it’s essential reclaim, or a refund that is because of you. Or it might be a faux story about how your Apple Pay account has been suspended, your card was added to Apple Pay or comparable pretexts. Clicking by way of on the hyperlinks supplied will normally take you to a phishing website 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 telephone quantity..
In some instances, the scammer might 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 website instantaneously requests this code. In the event 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 simply’re promoting on a digital market. As soon as the reliable 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 prospects 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
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 ultimately 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.
Pretend 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 truth, they’ve by no means paid – Apple Pay doesn’t maintain funds in escrow.
Public Wi-Fi
Hackers may run an “evil twin” hotspot in a public space like a café or airport that mimics a reliable public Wi-Fi community. They use it to observe site visitors to and out of your machine, and will redirect you to a faux 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
In the event you spot any of the next, it’s seemingly you have got been contacted by a scammer:
- A textual content, e mail or telephone utilizing urgency to hurry you into making an unwise determination, corresponding to sharing your logins or monetary data with somebody you’ve by no means met. This can be a basic social engineering method.
- A request on your 2FA codes, which can 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 purple flag, as ought to being instructed to take action through one other technique, corresponding to reward card or Apple Money.
- A requirement so that you can ship your objects earlier than you’ve acquired fee (accompanied with a screenshot alleging the customer has already paid).
- Any unsolicited textual content, name or e mail wherein 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 protecting your private data, cash and accounts secure and safe isn’t as troublesome as you would possibly assume. First, take a second to acknowledge the most typical purple flags and Apple Pay scams, as listed above. Hold checking in on occasion to refresh your reminiscence and replace your information as these scams evolve. Subsequent, think about:
- 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.
- In the event you use a public Wi-Fi, be certain that to use a digital personal community (VPN) in order that your connection is saved safe and your information can’t be intercepted.
- Think about using a VPN supplied by a trusted cybersecurity vendor, which can additionally embrace different providers to maintain iOS customers secure on-line, together with id safety that features darkish net scanning.
In the event you assume you’ve been scammed
In the event you assume you’ve fallen sufferer to an Apple Pay rip-off, time is of the essence. It might be attainable to cancel a fee, by clicking by way of within the Apple Pay app, or contacting your financial institution. In the event 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 might 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 providers 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.
