Scam Payment via Apple Pay

vanbastens

Hi all,

I’m looking for advice on how to deal with a possible scam involving a payment my son made.

He paid 1 pence via Apple Pay on a website while trying to use a shipping tracking service. Unfortunately, he didn’t realize that this was actually a deferred subscription payment of £35, for a service he didn’t want or intend to use.

After he told me, we cancelled his bank card and replaced it with a new one (with a different card number). I thought that would be enough to prevent further charges, as I didn’t fully understand how Apple Pay handles payments. However, the merchant still managed to charge him £35 once there were sufficient funds in the account.

The payment shows "read-nook.com" in the transaction description. I checked the website, and to me, it definitely looks suspicious — possibly a scam. We tried contacting the merchant but received no response. We also contacted the bank, but they said we have to wait for the payment to fully clear before we can dispute it.

What worries me is that on https://read-nook.com/get-started/, it states that the subscription automatically renews, and I’m not sure how to prevent future charges.

There’s no sign of a subscription in his Apple account, and no pre-authorized transactions listed in his Wallet either. (Unfortunately, I didn’t know to check for pre-authorized transactions earlier, so I’m not sure if this one was visible before the charge was taken.)

Does this mean no further payments can be taken, or is there something else we need to do?

Is there any chance he can get the money back from the bank?

Can we somehow block this merchant from charging him again?

Any help or advice would be really appreciated.

Thanks!

GrumpyDil

Have you tried phoning them on the number on their site?

oldernonethewiser

Did you phone them?

https://read-nook.com/cancellation-refunds/

Doesn't appear to be a scam either.

dunstonh

There’s no sign of a subscription in his Apple account

Paying for something using apple pay is not the same as buying an app or app subscription via the app store.  So, it wouldn't appear as a subscription in the app.

vanbastens

I have tried calling them, but there is always an automated response: "Welcome to customer service. All our operators are currently busy," etc..The automated voice response doesn’t even mention the name of the service, so the message seems generic and could be used for anything.

I also Googled the phone number, and the same number appears on several other websites that look very similar but claim to be selling different things.

That's a big red flag for me—it feels like a scam, even though the website seems legit at first glance.

vanbastens

And basically, there’s no way to sign up on those websites—there’s only the option to pay, and that’s it. You don’t fill out any sign-up form  or provide any details, so there is no way you can later login

vanbastens

dunstonh said:

There’s no sign of a subscription in his Apple account

Paying for something using apple pay is not the same as buying an app or app subscription via the app store.  So, it wouldn't appear as a subscription in the app.

So how does it work in terms of future payments? If there are no pre-authorized transactions in the wallet, does that mean they don’t have the ability to take more money from him—like they would if they had his bank card details?

prettyandfluffy

vanbastens said:

dunstonh said:

There’s no sign of a subscription in his Apple account

Paying for something using apple pay is not the same as buying an app or app subscription via the app store.  So, it wouldn't appear as a subscription in the app.

So how does it work in terms of future payments? If there are no pre-authorized transactions in the wallet, does that mean they don’t have the ability to take more money from him—like they would if they had his bank card details?

Someone who actually knows about these things will be able to advise, in this situation I would remove the card from the ApplePay wallet.

GrumpyDil

Ok, agreed a number of other sites also use that number. I think I would try contacting them using the contact form and a temporary email address as if that doesn't work when you ask the bank/apple to treat it as a scam you have additional evidence of what you have tried to resolve this.

dodgie

Unfortunately have had the same problem with my son falling into this trap, as the OP states the customer service number has an endless loop telling me they are currently busy and there are no responses to any email or webform attempts.

OP, did you manage to resolve this through your bank in the end? I'll be calling NatWest later today as I think there will be another payment due to be taken out in the next couple of days.

An unfortunate life lesson for my son I think, that all may not be as it appears on the internet. As soon as he hit 13 his children's bank account was enabled for Apple Pay and so he appears to have been on a bit of a spending spree with this pocket money.

DullGreyGuy

vanbastens said:

Hi all,

I’m looking for advice on how to deal with a possible scam involving a payment my son made.

He paid 1 pence via Apple Pay on a website while trying to use a shipping tracking service. Unfortunately, he didn’t realize that this was actually a deferred subscription payment of £35, for a service he didn’t want or intend to use.

After he told me, we cancelled his bank card and replaced it with a new one (with a different card number). I thought that would be enough to prevent further charges, as I didn’t fully understand how Apple Pay handles payments. However, the merchant still managed to charge him £35 once there were sufficient funds in the account.

The payment shows "read-nook.com" in the transaction description. I checked the website, and to me, it definitely looks suspicious — possibly a scam. We tried contacting the merchant but received no response. We also contacted the bank, but they said we have to wait for the payment to fully clear before we can dispute it.

What worries me is that on https://read-nook.com/get-started/, it states that the subscription automatically renews, and I’m not sure how to prevent future charges.

There’s no sign of a subscription in his Apple account, and no pre-authorized transactions listed in his Wallet either. (Unfortunately, I didn’t know to check for pre-authorized transactions earlier, so I’m not sure if this one was visible before the charge was taken.)

Does this mean no further payments can be taken, or is there something else we need to do?

Is there any chance he can get the money back from the bank?

Can we somehow block this merchant from charging him again?

Any help or advice would be really appreciated.

ApplePay payments are still handled by your bank not Apple however when a card is added to ApplePay its given a different card number to the original and if you have the same card on multiple devices each device will have a unique number for that device/card combination. 

It is likely that the merchant has setup a Continuous Payment Authority and he would need to ask his bank to cancel the CPA and block them. Note that is a crude tool compared to DDs and in the unlikely event that they did want to actually subscribe in principle the block shouldn't allow him to even though it's authorised this time.