Ghost Tap: Hackers Exploiting NFCGate to Steal Funds via Mobile Payments
Nov 20, 2024
Payment Security / Cybercrime
Threat actors are increasingly banking on a new technique that leverages near-field communication (NFC) to cash out victim's funds at scale. The technique, codenamed Ghost Tap by ThreatFabric, enables cybercriminals to cash-out money from stolen credit cards linked to mobile payment services such as Google Pay or Apple Pay and relaying NFC traffic. "Criminals can now misuse Google Pay and Apple Pay to transmit your tap-to-pay information globally within seconds," the Dutch security company told The Hacker News in a statement. "This means that even without your physical card or phone, they can make payments from your account anywhere in the world." These attacks typically work by tricking victims into downloading mobile banking malware that can capture their banking credentials and one-time passwords using an overlay attack or a keylogger. Alternatively, it can involve a voice phishing component. Once in possession of the card details, the threat actors m...