HACKERS USE NFC RELAY MALWARE TO CLONE TAP-TO-PAY ANDROID TRANSACTIONS

Summary from the TLDR InfoSec newsletter

Zimperium researchers discovered over 760 malicious Android apps exploiting NFC and Host Card Emulation features to relay payment card data in real-time to attackers via 70+ command-and-control servers and Telegram bots, with fake banking apps impersonating Google Pay, VTB Bank, and Santander across Russia, Poland, Brazil and other countries to enable fraudulent tap-to-pay transactions without physical card access, prompting recommendations to download apps only from Google Play Store and implement stronger NFC permission controls.