Apple Pay is a very safe, secure and convenient way to make payments, but nothing is fool proof.  Never underestimate the power of a fool.  While Apple Pay uses biometric recognition and tokenization that hides your affiliated credit  number scammers are able to use psychology through social engineering to manipulate Apple Pay users into becoming scam victims through a number of different scams.

One particularly effective scam starts with your receiving a text message that appears to come from Apple such as “Apple Pay pre-authorization charge of $143.95 was detected. Account locked.  Call Apple Support now: 1-800-***-***.” ( I have removed the scammers phone number.)  Anyone responding to the text message by calling the phone number will reach a legitimate sounding scammer who may ask for your name and recent transaction amounts purportedly to verify your identity.  They may also ask for device information, verification codes along with bank account or credit card data.  Once that information has been turned over to the scammer, they can then use your account to make purchases.  In some instances the phony text alert may provide a link to take you to a phony AI created Apple login page where you will also be prompted to provide information that will lead to identity theft or, in a worst case scenario, merely by clicking on the link you will download dangerous malware that will lead to your becoming a victim of identity theft.

TIPS

Whenever you get a phone call, text message or email, you can never be sure who is actually calling you.  Even if your phone indicates that the call or text message is from Apple, your Caller ID can be manipulated by a scammer through a technique called “spoofing” to appear as if it is coming from Apple when, in truth, it is coming from a scammer.  Never provide personal information or click on a link in response to such communications if you have not confirmed that the communication is legitimate.

In order to confirm the status of your Apple Pay account you can either to the Apple Customer Support site of https://support.apple.com/apple-pay or call their real customer support number of 1-800-692-7753.

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