Apple Pay's easy set-up may be its security downfall as fraud reports rise

Washington

WHEN Apple introduced its pay-by-smartphone feature last autumn, the company touted the simplicity of the set-up. All shoppers needed to do was wave their iPhones in front of a special scanner at the cash register - no need to fumble through pockets and purses for plastic cards or identification.

But a sharp rise in reports of fraudulent Apple Pay transactions is now raising questions about the security of the first mobile payment system to find a measure of popular success. One payments analyst, Cherian Abraham, estimated that as many as 6 per cent of Apple Pay purchases are completed with stolen credit cards, or 60 times the rate of the old-fashioned plastic swipe.