Chinese payment services: Apple IDs are misused to steal money

The two largest mobile payment service providers in China claim that money has been stolen by hackers who abused stolen Apple accounts. The technology giant would not have taken any steps so far to prevent this from happening again.

According to Reuters, the accusations are made by Alipay and Tencent. The two Chinese companies warn users that the Apple ID can be misused to make payments. Not enough would be done by Apple to prevent this, although it seems that Apple is willing to pay back all the money spent by hackers.

Public accusations

The first accusation comes from Alipay’s address. It posted a message on social media, warning users who have linked their Apple ID to their Alipay account. Alipay has approached Apple many times, but the problem has not yet been solved, the company wrote in his warning. Users with linked accounts were advised to lower their transaction limit until the problem was resolved.

Competitor Tencent issued a similar warning. Tencent’s customers would face the same problem as Alipay’s customers. In response, Tencent said it is actively engaged in discussions with Apple to better understand how it is solving the situation.

At both companies, some users would have lost up to 2,000 yuan (equivalent to 250 euros). At the same time, it is not clear how many users are affected by the problem. In any case, Apple will give money back to the users who are affected by the problems.

Uncertainty

It is not certain how the hackers got access to the Apple IDs. Last March there was the story that Apple IDs login codes were for sale on the darkweb. They were not cheap: a single account would cost 13 euros.

What’s striking about the whole story is that Alipay is so publicly critical of Apple. As The Verge also writes, it is unusual for large tech companies to attack each other so openly. That’s because the problem doesn’t just affect Apple.