Police arrest London Apple Pay TikTok prankster

Police arrest a TikTok prankster in London — image credit: Daily Mail

A TikTok video maker filmed a prank of pretending to take cash from people’s iPhones using Tap to Pay. It didn’t end well for the prankster.

Whether it’s Tap to Pay on iPhone when you’re with a merchant, or you’re just paying a friend who also has an iPhone, there is a distinctive sound. That sound, but not the actual payment, is now central to what’s claimed to be an increasingly common prank of pretending to take money from strangers.

The prankster holds their iPhone close to the stranger’s one, plays the sound, and then typically thanks that person for their generous donation. There’s usually someone else filming all of this for a hilarious TikTok video — but there isn’t usually a police presence nearby.

According to the UK’s Daily Mail, that’s what happened to one such TikTok user in London. He initially claimed to take ten thousand pounds (approximately $13,500) from a man walking by the River Thames, although then said it was only 1,000 pounds. The man grabbed him by the arm, however, and another stranger joined in to hold him back, while both looked around for police.

Two plainsclothes police officers then took over and, upon the TikTok man resisting arrest, handcuffed him. One officer informed the prankster that he was now going to be searched for evidence of articles being used in suspected fraud.

Throughout the process, the incident was filmed by the TikTok user’s friend, who inanely keeps asking if he should carry on recording. It’s TikTok. They obviously did.

There is no detail of what subsequently happened to the TikTok pair, and we couldn’t find anything this morning. This being the Daily Mail, there is no explanation of how the prank works, there isn’t even any detail of when this happened, and the publication got the 10,000 amount wrong.

Apple Pay won’t let money be taken

London’s Evening Standard has more of an explanation along with other examples from across the city. It’s important to note that no actual money is taken in these pranks, and Apple Pay requires the payer to confirm any transactions before they happen.

What this prankster was pretending to do was use Apple’s Tap to Cash, but this requires Apple Cash — which is not available in the UK. The UK and most of Europe does have the similar Tap to Pay on iPhone, but that’s expressly for paying merchants, who even then must be using particular payment apps.

In the US where Tap to Cash is available, there are still multiple steps involved. The user who wants to pay someone must first open either Messages or Apple Wallet.

To pay using Messages, the user has to hold their iPhone near the recipient’s and then the simplest route is to:

Start or continue a Messages conversation with the person

Tap the plus icon, then tap Apple Cash

Then enter the amount to send

Tap Send

Double-click the iPhone’s side button to pay

Confirm the payment with Face ID, Touch ID, or a passcode

As well as these basic steps, there are options along the way for changing the payment card — but that’s not that relevant to the prank at hand, here.

And, the prank can’t drain from Apple Cash either.