Police issue ‘Apple Pay’ fraud warning to vehicle buyers

Police have issued a warning to vehicle buyers.

Fraudsters are targeting classified advertisement websites like AutoTrader to advertise vehicles for sale.

Buyers are then contacting these ‘sellers’ to find out more about the vehicles and are being told to pay for them via ‘Apple Pay’. In this case the fraudsters are not using the genuine Apple Pay service and potential victims pay money directly to bank accounts in control of the fraudsters.

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Individuals receive emails claiming to be from Apple Pay with a web link to a cloned website with false terms and conditions of the ‘escrow’ service.

Any money remitted to the fraudsters is then unrecoverable and the vehicles are not delivered.

Officers say buyers should protect themselves and meet sellers ‘face to face’ and view the vehicle before parting with any money, and also be cautious of web links in an email.