One time payment using ApplePay

How can I ensure that I am only charged once when making a purchase using Apple Pay, and that no further payments can be taken without my authorisation? I recently purchased a service through a website for what appeared to be a one-off charge of £1. However, a few days later, a further charge of €24.99 was taken from my account without my knowledge or authorisation. This turned out to be a scam. The website offered an IQ test report "for fun" for just £1, but the small print apparently enrolled me in a subscription that resulted in additional charges.I then had to spend a considerable amount of time contacting my bank, stopping further payments, and obtaining a refund. I would appreciate advice on how to prevent this from happening in the future when using Apple Pay, particularly how to identify or block merchants from taking additional payments beyond the amount I have explicitly authorised..

Posted on Oct 29, 2026 2:29 AM

1 reply

Jeff Donald

Level 9 (64,078 points)

Oct 29, 2026 6:37 AM in response to Johnboy25

You’ll need to read what you agree to. A subscription is a legal contract. The bank is obligated to send payments to fulfill the legal contract.

Are you sure you used Apple Pay? You would have needed to click a link/button that said Apple Pay. If you manually entered your payment details, it was not Apple Pay. If the payment details were filled in automatically you were using autofill in your web browser.

If you were on a social media website or app you used the payment information Facebook, instagram etc. keeps on file for you. Apple Pay requires you to double click your devices side button (power button) and verify and authenticate the payment using Face ID.

The situation you encountered would have been the same no matter what payment method you used. A contract is a contract and even removing the card has no effect on the bank’s obligation to send payments for the subscription. Only canceling the account would stop a payment. So, again, reading what you agree to is the only way to prevent what happened.