Apple Pay risk as stores lift £20 limit

Claims that Apple Pay is more secure than paying by bank card could be blown out of the water after it was revealed that many retailers – including Marks & Spencer, Boots, H&M, and Vodafone stores – have not set a transaction limit to the service.
There are a host of restaurants, including Burger King, Cote Brasserie and Pret a Manger, where there are also no limits.
Nearly 250,000 shops across the UK that already have contactless payment terminals installed at point of sale can accept Apple Pay but the majority of them will set a £20 limit for Apple Pay transactions – in line with most retailers’ policies for contactless card payments.
Evidently keen to get the money in, M&S has no Apple Pay transaction limits, which means the new payment method can be used in Simply Food stores or for a more expensive clothes shopping trip.
Apple is also planning to integrate a loyalty scheme within its payment app to provide customers with a chance to earn points and access special promotions during the payment process.
But reports from the US – where Apple Pay has been in place since October – claim that the Apple Pay fraud rate can reach 6% of transactions at some banks – 60 times the average credit card fraud rate. Critics point out that it is easy to use a stolen phone, and even to load a stolen credit card onto the phone.
Apple insists its banking partners carefully authenticate customers every time. “During set-up Apple Pay requires banks to verify each and every card,” Apple said in a statement. “The bank then determines and approves whether a card can be added to Apple Pay.”
Industry source claims the reason that the fraud can still occur is that not all banks are being vigorous enough when setting up the Apple Pay service.

1 Comment on "Apple Pay risk as stores lift £20 limit"