🔐 A locked iPhone just gave up $10,000: no PIN, no Face ID, no problem.

Veritasium's Derek Muller and MKBHD (Marques Brownlee) ran a fascinating (and unsettling) experiment: they drained $10,000 from a fully locked iPhone using nothing but a small reader and a laptop. The phone screen never turned on.

🧠 What happened

• A video by Henry Reich (Veritasium) shows researchers successfully taking $10,000 from a locked iPhone belonging to Marques Brownlee.

• The phone was never unlocked, and no authentication (Face ID, passcode) was used.

⚙️ How the attack works (simplified)

• It exploits Apple Pay’s “Express Transit” mode, which allows payments without unlocking the phone (for things like метро/subway rides).

• Researchers used a man-in-the-middle NFC setup:

  • One device tricks the iPhone into thinking it’s making a small transit payment.

  • Another device charges a much larger amount on a real payment terminal.

• They manipulate transaction data so:

  • The iPhone thinks it’s a small charge

  • The payment terminal processes a large one

🔍 Key limitation

• The attack only works under very specific conditions:

  • iPhone with Express Transit enabled

  • A Visa card set for transit payments

• It does NOT work with Mastercard, American Express, or some Android systems due to extra security checks.

🧩 Who’s responsible?

• Apple says the issue is with Visa’s system, not the iPhone itself.

• Visa claims:

  • The attack is unlikely in real-world scenarios

  • Users are protected by zero-liability policies (you can get refunded)

⚠️ Why it matters

• The vulnerability has been known since 2021 but still works in certain setups.

• Even though it’s complex and requires specialized hardware, it shows that:

  • Locked phones aren’t always fully secure

  • Convenience features (like tap-to-pay without unlocking) can introduce risks

🛡️ How to stay safe

• Disable Express Transit mode, or

• Remove your Visa card from transit payments

🧾 Bottom line

This isn’t an everyday scam you’re likely to encounter, but it’s a real, demonstrated vulnerability involving NFC payments, mainly tied to Visa’s implementation, not the iPhone itself.

🎬Here it is the full video with details on How Secure Is Tap To Pay?