Arrests in Tap-to-Pay Scheme Powered by Phishing
Summary: Authorities in Knoxville, Tennessee arrested 11 Chinese nationals accused of buying tens of thousands of dollars in gift cards at local retailers using mobile wallets created through online phishing scams, with Knox County calling the arrests the first in the nation for this type of tap-to-pay fraud. A Sacramento ABC affiliate reported two Chinese nationals arrested after using an app to run more than 80 stolen payment cards at a Target store, and researchers tied the scheme to a custom Android app called Z-NFC that relays NFC transactions from phones in China for $500 a month.
What you should know: Knox County recovered more than $23,000 in gift cards bought with victims' information, and the phishing kits behind the wallets bypass mobile networks entirely by sending messages through iMessage and RCS - so the one-time passcode a customer hands over is what links a stolen card to a wallet the fraudster controls.
Read the original at Krebs on Security ↗
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