Smartphone NFC Payments (Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay)

Subject Product

Smartphones that utilize a native or app-driven means of contactless credit/debit payment.

Subject Area

Active Contactless Payment

Subject Details

When a customer uses an active NFC device for contactless credit/debit payment, the card number differs from the actual card number of the physical card added to their digital wallet.

What is a Digital Card Number and how is it different from my Card Account Number?

When you add credit/debit cards to smartphone NFC payment systems (e.g. Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay), a Digital Card Number is created in place of your Card Account Number.

This number is used when you make a payment with the respective NFC pay services regardless of whether the receiving device utilizes EMV encryption or its required backend checks and processes (or a refund of that payment). As a result, the physical Card Number is not shared with the merchant and won’t appear on the receipt (instead the receipt will display the last 4 digits of the Digital Card Number).

Digital Card Numbers are created each time a card is added, which are applicable in both online and in-person transactions. This same number is also utilized in any voided or refunded transactions made using a smart device.