Apple Pay vs Apple Pay Wallet?

[leomac08]

I recently made a purchase using Apple Pay by using my AMEX card. I clarified with AMEX if AMEX shared my card number to the merchant or if a unique number was sent to the merchant since Apple Pay claims to use a unique number code per transaction. AMEX told me that they saw I used Apple Pay Wallet in which my card number was shared with the merchant to submit the transaction detail. In the receipt from the merchant, I saw the last 4 digits of my AMEX. I’m confused because I thought Apple Pay sends a unique number per transaction or am I getting it wrong? Please help.

 

[jpn]

I recently made a purchase using Apple Pay by using my AMEX card. I clarified with AMEX if AMEX shared my card number to the merchant or if a unique number was sent to the merchant since Apple Pay claims to use a unique number code per transaction. AMEX told me that they saw I used Apple Pay Wallet in which my card number was shared with the merchant to submit the transaction detail. In the receipt from the merchant, I saw the last 4 digits of my AMEX. I’m confused because I thought Apple Pay sends a unique number per transaction or am I getting it wrong? Please help.

the answer is that, in fact, although the statement is often made that the merchant is not given yr credit card number, in fact that statement needs to be modified that, in reality, the merchant can routinely/always request and can routinely/always be given the last 4 digits of yr actual physical credit card number.

supposedly this is considered end user friendly so that the apple payer and the store/place used can have a common identifier/number (last 4 digits of yr card) to see which card you actually used.

 

[lartola]

the answer is that, in fact, although the statement is often made that the merchant is not given yr credit card number, in fact that statement needs to be modified that, in reality, the merchant can routinely/always request and can routinely/always be given the last 4 digits of yr actual physical credit card number.

supposedly this is considered end user friendly so that the apple payer and the store/place used can have a common identifier/number (last 4 digits of yr card) to see which card you actually used.

Actually, what merchants receive is the last four digits of the Device Account Number assigned to the device used to make the payment, not the last four of the actual physical card. Just look on your receipt next time you pay with apple pay: it will show four digits, but they’ll be different from those on your physical card.

 

[lartola]

I recently made a purchase using Apple Pay by using my AMEX card. I clarified with AMEX if AMEX shared my card number to the merchant or if a unique number was sent to the merchant since Apple Pay claims to use a unique number code per transaction. AMEX told me that they saw I used Apple Pay Wallet in which my card number was shared with the merchant to submit the transaction detail. In the receipt from the merchant, I saw the last 4 digits of my AMEX. I’m confused because I thought Apple Pay sends a unique number per transaction or am I getting it wrong? Please help.

The unique code per transaction is the security code (i.e., the one that replaces the 3 digit security code found on the back of all cards or 4 digits on the front for Amex cards), but no one gets to see that one. As for the card number, your actual card number is not shared with the merchant. Instead, the merchant receives a different “card” number assigned to your device, called the device account number. That one doesn’t change per transaction, but it is more secure in that it’s different from your actual card number and it’s tied to your device, so in the remote case that anyone were able to hack it from the store terminal they wouldn’t be able to use it to put fraudulent charges on your account. Besides, because it’s another number your physical card wouldn’t be compromised.

In some cases such as online purchases, the merchant may get the last four digits of your actual card because they are also stored in your iphone as a reference for you to know which card you’re using (that’s why they appear on screen when you pull up apple pay to pay), but I believe they never get your full account info.

 

[MisterSavage]

Actually, what merchants receive is the last four digits of the Device Account Number assigned to the device used to make the payment, not the last four of the actual physical card. Just look on your receipt next time you pay with apple pay: it will show four digits, but they’ll be different from those on your physical card.

Not only that but the Device Account Number is what you give to a merchant if you're going to make a return. I love that my "real" credit card number isn't used.

 

[jpn]

Actually, what merchants receive is the last four digits of the Device Account Number assigned to the device used to make the payment, not the last four of the actual physical card. Just look on your receipt next time you pay with apple pay: it will show four digits, but they’ll be different from those on your physical card.

from yr subesequent post:
quote
In some cases such as online purchases, the merchant may get the last four digits of your actual card because they are also stored in your iphone as a reference for you to know which card you’re using (that’s why they appear on screen when you pull up apple pay to pay), but I believe they never get your full account info.
endquote

thank you for saying yr earlier statements were wrong.
you can always delete yr earlier wrong posts.

 

[lartola]

from yr subesequent post:
quote
In some cases such as online purchases, the merchant may get the last four digits of your actual card because they are also stored in your iphone as a reference for you to know which card you’re using (that’s why they appear on screen when you pull up apple pay to pay), but I believe they never get your full account info.
endquote

thank you for saying yr earlier statements were wrong.
you can always delete yr earlier wrong posts.

No they weren’t. My point was that merchants never get your full real account info when you use apple pay. They may get the last four digits of the card sometimes, but they never get anything else. Your previous post implies they do get all of the customer’s real account info.

 

[leomac08]

Thank you for the replies. Just throwing out again that the receipt from the merchant shows the last four digits of my actual AMEX card. AMEX uses 15 digit credit card numbers. So I’m assuming the remaining 11 digits are different for every Apple Pay transaction. Case point, the merchant should not be receiving my actual 15 digit credit card number (ever) which I presume is one of the main purposes of Apple Pay.

It’s confusing when an AMEX representative said the merchant should have received my card number so they can complete the transaction detail, which scared me at first, but I don’t think the representative knew how Apple Pay works.

 

[lartola]

Thank you for the replies. Just throwing out again that the receipt from the merchant shows the last four digits of my actual AMEX card. AMEX uses 15 digit credit card numbers. So I’m assuming the remaining 11 digits are different for every Apple Pay transaction. Case point, the merchant should not be receiving my actual 15 digit credit card number (ever) which I presume is one of the main purposes of Apple Pay.

It’s confusing when an AMEX representative said the merchant should have received my card number so they can complete the transaction detail, which scared me at first, but I don’t think the representative knew how Apple Pay works.

I’m pretty sure they only got the last four of the actual card plus the full device account number of your iphone. Amex does handle things a bit differently than other cards, though. For example with Amex the list of recent transactions in wallet shows transactions made both with your actual card and with apple pay, whereas for other cards you only see in wallet the transactions made using apple pay but not the ones using the actual card.