if I could give google pay a zero I would. I don't use it and don't have a google pay account or a google account. But somehow, my credit card account was hacked and google pay was activated on an android phone. I live in Australia. This android phone was used as a digital clone of my card and clocked up $23000 in handbags at Louis Vuitton in London. With google pay all daily limits, transaction limits and dual authentication with the bank is bypassed. I called my bank and they said they money was in a suspense account and had not been transferred. But they couldn't stop the transfer. Then I tried google pay. but that was a deadend for three reasons. 1) google pay doesn't have a phone number to talk to a human it must all be done online, 2). I wasn't the google pay account holder and 3) you can't question a fraudulent transaction unless the transaction has been completed.I emailed Louis Vuitton in London as the store is appointment only, I knew the time of the transactions they have security cameras. They know the buyer. Their reply was essentially bad luck, it wasn't their problem as the products have all ready left the store.Clearly the buyer was a regular. The lady I spoke to at LV said they have rigorous security on all online transactions checking owner id and credit cards match. With google pay they can't check. So in conclusion google pay is kryptonite if your bank has no limit on transaction limits. They must know this and don't care. I should be protected for the amount as Mastercard has a zero liability clause on the card. Besides the bank I also reported the transaction to the police. I was told both would call me back. 2 days later dead silence. So now at a minimum I'm on the hook for interest payments on $23,000 until the bank fraud squad have completed their enquiries. I was told that could take 8 weeks. Reading around the subject, the banks are losing a lot to fraud so they are putting the onus back on the card holder. The counter to that is the banking ombudsman is buried with cases and is reversing the transactions the bank denies its their fault. In conclusion if you are crazy enough to risk your mental health by using google pay only use it with a debit card with say a daily limit of $100 on the card and with a bank that has a limit on google pay limits. or switch back to cash and bin all the cards. That's my plan. ok it's inconvenient. but compared to the stress of this situation. The irony is as it's a credit card, essentially it's the banks money not mine. They hadn't transferred the money, knew it was fraud and still wanted to transfer it anyway. Essentially the bank and google pay know about these type of frauds and don't do anything to protect the consumer. Furthermore, I have a camper staying at our campsite he used to be in the Australian federal police fraud squad. He said due to cut backs unless a overseas fraud exceeded $4m they won't investigate! They just pretend they do. You have been warned. The bad guys know about these fraud investigation limits. LV know it too. They are their best customers as they are not price sensitive as it's not their money.... Jesus wept what has the world come too.
