The scheme involves linking stolen payment card information to fraudulent mobile wallet accounts, allowing criminals to make contactless payments using the victims’ funds without requiring physical card access. If security personnel apprehend the payment mule, their device contains only legitimate software with no direct evidence of stolen card credentials, which remain safely stored on the mastermind’s remote device, often located in entirely different geographic regions. The exploitation of NFC technology represents a significant evolution in payment fraud techniques, combining digital and physical elements to create schemes that are difficult to detect and trace through conventional security measures. Kaspersky researchers have discovered that these operations function at an almost industrial scale, with fraudsters acquiring numerous smartphones, creating multiple Apple or Google accounts, and systematically installing contactless payment applications to facilitate their schemes. Unsuspecting users are prompted to link their payment cards or make small verification payments, which requires entering complete card details and confirming ownership via one-time passwords (OTPs). This method involves installing legitimate applications like NFCGate on two separate smartphones – one containing the wallet with stolen cards and another used for making the actual payments. According to their investigation, attackers use specialized software to generate perfect digital replicas of victims’ cards, which are then photographed directly into mobile wallet applications for instant linkage. At the heart of this fraud ecosystem lies an NFC relay technique dubbed “Ghost Tap,” which security experts consider particularly dangerous due to its ability to bypass conventional anti-fraud measures. These attackers are now leveraging Apple Pay and Google Wallet to conduct unauthorized transactions after obtaining victims’ card credentials through phishing operations. With years of experience under his belt in Cyber Security, he is covering Cyber Security News, technology and other news. Cyber Security News is a Dedicated News Platform For Cyber News, Cyber Attack News, Hacking News & Vulnerability Analysis. Cybercriminals have devised sophisticated methods to exploit Near Field Communication (NFC) technology via popular mobile payment platforms. Payment terminals and ATMs cannot distinguish between the relayed NFC signal and a legitimate one, making detection exceptionally difficult.
This Cyber News was published on cybersecuritynews.com. Publication date: Wed, 09 Apr 2025 14:30:20 +0000