Apple has owned up to the accusations made by two of China's biggest payment platforms and apologized. Alipay and WeChat Pay claimed that there were thieves who used compromised Apple IDs to rob individual users' funds from their accounts.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple has remained mum about the accusations before owning up to them and offering an apology. The company claimed that there was a "small number" of users who had their accounts compromised by phishing scams. These users reportedly were those who did not enable the two-factor authentication on their accounts. In a statement, Apple expressed its apologies. We are deeply apologetic about the inconvenience caused to our customers by these phishing scams," Apple stated.
Last week, Alipay and WeChat Pay announced that some users' payment accounts were hacked and used to make purchases. As much as 2,000 yuan (USD 290) was used. This is presumed not the total stolen amount.
The companies did not reveal just how many users had their accounts hacked and the total amount of money that was therefore stolen. They also did not elaborate on the details of the hack or how they found out.
Before making this apology to China, however, Apple reportedly committed last week to refund the money users lost, based on undisclosed sources familiar with the issue. Apple also asserted that the company is prioritizing all of its users' privacy and security and had already put so many mechanisms in place to prevent these problems.
The hacking incident also received broad media coverage across China. State broadcaster CCTV had released detailed reports and accounts of the event, even statements made by victims about the money they lost to app purchases they did not make.
This is not the first time that Apple was negatively perceived by Chinese users. Recently, it came under scrutiny in China over the methods it uses and applies to ensure data privacy and security. This is why back in February, the company reported shifted iCloud accounts of Chinese users to the servers of a state-owned local partner. This decision was reportedly a form of compliance with Chinese law. Apple also promised to store the encryption keys of these accounts in a secure place in China.
Meanwhile, Chinese users are advised by Apple to add security steps to keep their money safe. Alipay on the other hand, recommended users to lessen the payment quotas that can be done without inputting passwords so that risks can be mitigated.
