From Central Oregon Daily News:
Tap-to-pay has become a popular way for quick and convenient checkouts — just tap your credit card or phone to the payment device. But the Better Business Bureau is warning shoppers to slow down — to avoid a threat called ghost tapping.
“Ghost tapping is when your card, your tap-to-pay card, is secretly charged without your knowledge, or you tap it and then it’s charged multiple times. So you may be in a crowd and someone has a device that is secretly skimming cards,” said Melanie McGovern, Public Relations Director for the Better Business Bureau. The technology can take your money without ever touching your card using near-field communications (NFC) — the way two electronic devices talk to each other.