![](\"http:\/\/www.undergroundz.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/tap-to-pay-gas-station.jpg\")
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Mobile payments are fast, secure, and frictionless, unless you\u2019re tapping into the wrong system. One viral video is raising questions about how trust in tech can be exploited, one gas pump at a time.<\/p>\n
In a recent TikTok clip, St. Louis-based creator Martice (@lovemartice) gives an up-close look at the potential scam that could give billing and payment access to bad actors rather than the honest retailers trying to make purchases as simple as possible. She appears to be at an area QuikTrip.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe gotta stop doing tap-to-pay at the gas stations,\u201d she warns in the video that\u2019s been viewed more than 70,000 times.<\/p>\n
The scam at the heart of the video is surprisingly low-tech. A scammer prints a personal payment QR code<\/a>, usually linked to platforms like Cash App, Venmo, or PayPal, and slaps it on or near a gas pump\u2019s tap-to-pay terminal. These decals often mimic the design of legitimate payment prompts, leading distracted drivers to assume they\u2019re paying the gas station. Instead, they\u2019re unknowingly sending money directly to the scammer.<\/p>\n What\u2019s worse: when you tap your phone, the payment goes through<\/a> instantly, but the pump doesn\u2019t start. That confusion is exactly what scammers count on. Unlike traditional credit card skimming, which steals and reuses card data, this tactic doesn\u2019t compromise your bank account or identity. It simply spoofs your behavior, rerouting your money to someone else while leaving your financial credentials untouched.<\/p>\n Legitimate tap-to-pay readers at gas stations are integrated directly into the pump’s authorization system, meaning the pump won\u2019t dispense gas unless the station\u2019s point of sale network verifies the transaction. If you pay a scammer instead, the pump stays inactive, but your money is already gone. While frustrating, this makes the scam easy to detect in hindsight: no gas, confirmation, or transaction on the pump\u2019s display.<\/p>\n Tap-to-pay systems, including mobile wallets like Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay, operate on standards<\/a> developed by EMVCo, a global consortium owned by major payment networks including Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, JCB, and UnionPay. EMVCo sets the protocols for secure contactless and chip-based payments, ensuring data is encrypted and tokenized during transactions. These standards make tap-to-pay transactions resistant to traditional fraud like card skimming.<\/p>\n The good news is that contactless payments like Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay are, by design, among the safest forms of payment. These systems use tokenization<\/a>, which replaces your card number with a unique, encrypted token for each transaction. Even if someone were to intercept it, it wouldn\u2019t be reusable.<\/p>\n Someone Deepfaked Ferrari CEO\u2019s Voice and Tried to Scam the Company<\/a> Worldwide, fraudulent transactions, even including all card-present and card-not-present fraud, make up only about 0.01%\u20130.05% of daily transactions<\/a>. This aligns with findings in the UK<\/a>, where only 0.0151% of total contactless spending was linked to fraud. That said, the security of the technology doesn\u2019t eliminate the risk of social engineering, and that\u2019s exactly what this sticker scam exploits. You\u2019re not being hacked; you\u2019re being misled.<\/p>\n To avoid this kind of deception<\/a>, the best defense is awareness and scrutiny. Always take a quick look at the payment terminal before tapping. Legitimate payment prompts will be consistent across pumps and typically part of the pump\u2019s design or embedded touchscreen. If you see a paper sticker with a Venmo handle or QR code placed awkwardly on the machine, that\u2019s an immediate red flag. Many gas stations offer official apps or loyalty programs, such as Exxon Mobil Rewards+ or Shell\u2019s Fuel Rewards, that integrate contactless payment and provide extra security. If something feels off, step inside and pay at the counter.<\/p>\n If you do spot a suspicious sticker or believe you\u2019ve sent money to a scammer, you can file a fraud report directly through the payment platform you used\u2014whether that\u2019s Venmo, Cash App, or PayPal. You should also alert the gas station manager so they can remove the sticker and inspect other pumps, and consider filing a local police report.<\/p>\n Part of what makes this scam so effective is how quickly and habitually many of us use tap-to-pay. As mobile wallets have become more common, used by 53% of smartphone users<\/a> in the U.S. as of 2023, so has our reliance on speed and ease over vigilance. Scammers aren\u2019t cracking systems or defeating encryption. They\u2019re exploiting muscle memory. A fake sticker takes seconds to place and can blend easily with a cluttered pump, especially at night or in bad weather.\u00a0<\/p>\n Motor1<\/em> reached out to Martice via direct message and to EMVCo via a website submission form. We’ll update this article if either responds.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0 Mobile payments are fast, secure, and frictionless, unless you\u2019re tapping into the wrong system. One viral video is raising questions […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1708,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.undergroundz.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1705"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.undergroundz.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.undergroundz.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.undergroundz.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.undergroundz.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1705"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.undergroundz.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1705\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1710,"href":"http:\/\/www.undergroundz.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1705\/revisions\/1710"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.undergroundz.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.undergroundz.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.undergroundz.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.undergroundz.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Tokens Enhance Security<\/h2>\n
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