Better Business Bureau issues warning about ‘ghost tapping’ scam. What Americans need to know to protect themselves

5 days ago 3

Monique Danao

Tue, November 11, 2025 astatine 5:15 AM CST 5 min read

As contactless payments go an integral portion of mundane life, a troubling scam dubbed “ghost tapping” is becoming known for exploiting the precise convenience it promises.

Thanks to Jeff Bezos, you tin present become a landlord for arsenic small arsenic $100 — and no, you don't person to woody with tenants oregon hole freezers. Here's how
Robert Kiyosaki says this 1 plus volition surge 400% successful a twelvemonth — and helium begs investors not to miss its ‘explosion'
Dave Ramsey warns astir 50% of Americans are making 1 large Social Security mistake — here’s what it is and 3 elemental steps to hole it ASAP

Ghost tapping is simply a fraud method that targets the “tap-to-pay” diagnostic recovered connected cards and mobile wallets. It involves utilizing near-field connection (NFC) technology, which enables a paper oregon telephone to speech information with a outgo terminal astatine precise adjacent range.

Better Business Bureau (BBB), a non-profit enactment that helps consumers find retired if a concern is trustworthy, precocious warned astir this benignant of fraud saying it had received respective reports of it [1].

One idiosyncratic reported their acquisition to BBB Scam Tracker: “An idiosyncratic is going doorway to doorway successful [location redacted] claiming to beryllium selling cocoa connected behalf of [redacted] to enactment peculiar needs students. He says that helium tin lone judge tap-to-pay to get radical to wage with a card. He past charges ample amounts to the paper without the cardholder being capable to spot the amount. He got my parent for $537... Another unfortunate for $1100 ... He changes neighborhoods often to debar getting caught.”

Unlike older scams that required a carnal swipe oregon a tampered reader, shade tapping tin proceed without a paper ever leaving its owner’s wallet oregon phone.

Scammers person respective approaches:

They whitethorn bump oregon brushwood past idiosyncratic successful a crowded determination with a hidden reader, triggering a outgo from the victim’s tap-enabled device.
They mightiness airs arsenic vendors, foundation collectors, oregon door-to-door sellers and importune connected pat payments — past complaint acold much than the purchaser expects.
In much blase schemes, scammers instrumentality victims into entering paper details into phishing apps oregon links, adhd them to mobile wallets they control, and past marque unauthorized tap-to-pay purchases — adjacent without the carnal paper present.

In Missouri, section presumption KY3 News reported connected a lawsuit of a scammer walking astir with a “tap machine” and approaching radical to work their cards done their purse oregon wallet. One idiosyncratic claimed to suffer $100 [2].

Trending: Are you richer than you think? Here are 5 wide signs you’re punching mode supra the mean American’s wealth

In 2023, the U.S. had astir 17.9 cardinal contactless transactions and astir 300 cardinal contactless-enabled cards successful circulation, according to Clearly Payments [3]. Fraudsters manipulate the contactless outgo features that consumers favour to get information.