Isn’t the limit for Apple Pay like $100 or $200 tops? They would have had to make 200-400 transactions. None of which would have been flagged, noticed, or caused the card to be blocked? Bullshit.
No. I've made much larger Apple Pay transactions that the watch was used to authenticate. I think the UK had or has low touch less transaction limits but you can use the watch to approve and authenticate online Apple Pay, för example.
Ask, unrelated to the above : I occasionally put my watch on and don't have to type a PIN. It is already opened and authenticated. I haven't tracked exactly the circumstances and ut has been a week or three since it last happened. So I don't remember if it was after charging or if I took it off for a minute or two and then put it back on. But it has happened to me several times.
Tourist areas are rife with card scanners and general credit card cloners: odds are the watch was irrelevant for all the reasons mentioned. It’s why especially for travel it’s either ApplePay or cash for me. And NO ONE is ever handed my card to carry it out of my sight.
Unattended gas pumps get card scanners put on them and travelers in a hurry won’t notice.
I'm a frequent diner in restaurants and here in the US, most waiters still take your card back to their central POS rather than process it at your table.
I am calling bovine feces on this person’s story. I do know a lot of people whom I tried in vain to convince not to use a simple four digit passcode such as 1111 or 1234. They tend to be GEN Xers or older and “couldn’t be bothered with the finicky, difficult aspects of technology“ to choose a better six digit pass code. These are also the people who never know their Apple ID password. Very frustrating!
What on earth? Gen X are generally tech-savvy -- we were here for the internet & web and our generation were the developers and engineers of the modern economy (some of us personally!). Like the other poster said, yeah we know how to use passwords.
Given the circumstances here, we have to believe a CM stole the watch and quickly guessed or knew the required user passcode to use the wallet. And of course, the person who lost the watch neglected to mark the watch as lost on their phone and took no action to contact their credit card company before the 40K fraud occurred. The CM thief must have gone to a jewelry store and bought some diamonds or a Rolex watch. That’s quite fantastical; I wonder what we’re missing from the story.
I am calling bovine feces on this person’s story. I do know a lot of people whom I tried in vain to convince not to use a simple four digit passcode such as 1111 or 1234. They tend to be GEN Xers or older and “couldn’t be bothered with the finicky, difficult aspects of technology“ to choose a better six digit pass code. These are also the people who never know their Apple ID password. Very frustrating!
What on earth? Gen X are generally tech-savvy -- we were here for the internet & web and our generation were the developers and engineers of the modern economy (some of us personally!). Like the other poster said, yeah we know how to use passwords.
I am Gen X. I was not criticizing somebody else’s generation, just noting that many of the people in my generation with whom I work (education) and interact are not as embracing of technology as I am. They are more adverse to change and refining their workflows. I increasingly feel like a tech outlier within my age group, but I have embraced computers since my youth using the TI 99/4A, Commodore 64 & 128, and Amiga computing platforms. Most of my fellow Gen X colleagues first embraced computers at University and in the workplace to do necessary tasks - not as a loving embrace of technology as a problem solving experience that can make our lives easier. In this vein, many of them view tech as a routine with extra little burdens, like passwords. Thus, 1234 makes their lives less cumbersome. This is a common worldview…sadly.
This woman probably had her credit card cloned. It’s more common than most people realize. Especially in areas where people are using their credit card across multiple shops. Making it less likely the victim can tell who the perp was.
The cloning devices are small enough to fit into a pocket. And your credit card disappears with the person who is ‘helping’ you for a few seconds. Before you even sign your receipt your magstrip info is being zipped across the internet and onto another card. They’ll usually wait 1 or 2 days to make it harder to tie it to them.
Tourist areas are rife with card scanners and general credit card cloners: odds are the watch was irrelevant for all the reasons mentioned. It’s why especially for travel it’s either ApplePay or cash for me. And NO ONE is ever handed my card to carry it out of my sight.
Unattended gas pumps get card scanners put on them and travelers in a hurry won’t notice.
I'm a frequent diner in restaurants and here in the US, most waiters still take your card back to their central POS rather than process it at your table.
Which is only were I to hand my card to a waiter; which as stated, I just never do. That’s what I reserve cash for. Cloning is simply too common. And a real pain to recover from even when it’s simply my sacrificial card.
The fraud alerts allegedly totaled $40,000 in charges to her card. Hearing this, the woman then shut down the relevant credit cards.
While it is plausible that the woman did end up with $40,000 in charges to her credit card, it seems unlikely to have been caused by the lost Apple Watch.
Forgetting, for a second, about the whole Watch thing. If AMEX flagged the potential fraud, alerted her about and she said that they weren't legit, that means they will not be trying to collect payment. This is a complete non story.
Is the behavior the same for ApplePay? My card info got hacked a few weeks ago and Discover deactivated my card but I could still use Apple Pay.
So much missing information here and so many assumptions and victim blaming.
First, were the transactions actually made with Apple pay via the watch or were they made some other way? Where were they made? In the park, or at other places? What was the exact time frame? Did she use find my device to locate the watch? Did she have a passcode on her watch? Was it something like 1234 or something more difficult to guess?
If it's on your wrist, how does one just lose your watch? Maybe I don't see enough news or something, but I've never heard of a watch just falling off someone's wrist. I've gone on multiple attractions in Orlando with my watch on including high speed coasters, water slides, rapid rivers, etc...never even close to experiencing my watch falling off my wrist. I'm guessing it was strapped around a bag or something and fell off? Why wouldn't you just wear it as intended, especially something as expensive as a Hermes Apple Watch?
Maybe she took it off? I used to lose watches all the time because I take them off when my wrist got itchy.
Isn’t the limit for Apple Pay like $100 or $200 tops? They would have had to make 200-400 transactions. None of which would have been flagged, noticed, or caused the card to be blocked? Bullshit.
Where would you have ever heard that? I've used Apple Pay across multiple different credit cards for transactions of thousands of dollars.
The fraud alerts allegedly totaled $40,000 in charges to her card. Hearing this, the woman then shut down the relevant credit cards.
While it is plausible that the woman did end up with $40,000 in charges to her credit card, it seems unlikely to have been caused by the lost Apple Watch.
Forgetting, for a second, about the whole Watch thing. If AMEX flagged the potential fraud, alerted her about and she said that they weren't legit, that means they will not be trying to collect payment. This is a complete non story.
Is the behavior the same for ApplePay? My card info got hacked a few weeks ago and Discover deactivated my card but I could still use Apple Pay.
I would think so. They flagged the transactions. It's the same card, whether or not it is in the digital wallet.
how stupid do you have to be to loose an apple watch and still manage to have credit card used? it's not an easy thing to loose an apple watch and can't trace where the watch is and it's not an easy thing to use the card on the apple watch. why didn't the person either trace the watch and stop the apple pay on the watch? this is so embarrassing to have the world find out how stupid thi person is. Laughing out loud Laughing out loud Laughing out loud Laughing out loud Laughing out loud
As I read through the article, almost everything made no sense unless these people are absolutely clueless. Who doesn't have alerts setup on CC accounts that notify you when charges are made? Did they use "1111" as the PIN for the watch? Did they ignore every best practice for keeping your information secure? When does "theft" become negligence on the victim's part?
Unlimited credit limit? Sounds like they have more money than brains. I know AMEX and most banks are very cautious of unusual activity. Something is fishy.
I really have to work harder at eliminating my prejudices. I just couldn't help but think that anyone who purchased an Hermès edition Apple Watch falls into the "more money than...." category.
Comments
Ask, unrelated to the above : I occasionally put my watch on and don't have to type a PIN. It is already opened and authenticated. I haven't tracked exactly the circumstances and ut has been a week or three since it last happened. So I don't remember if it was after charging or if I took it off for a minute or two and then put it back on. But it has happened to me several times.
Where would you have ever heard that? I've used Apple Pay across multiple different credit cards for transactions of thousands of dollars.
I would think so. They flagged the transactions. It's the same card, whether or not it is in the digital wallet.