Question About Google Pay.

[Gizmonster]

I hardly ever use my card - I'm a cash person, but last week I was meeting a friend in Manchester and I was informed that the pub didn't take cash - card only, so I took my contactless card with me. I paid for my train ticket with cash and I only used my card twice in the pub and for the rest of the time the card was with my phone in my pocket.
Anyway - cut a long story short, my card has been compromised and I had to cancel it and order a new one. I doubt that the pub is at fault, so I reckon someone brushed past me whilst I was walking from the train station to the pub and had a card scanner/reader of some description.
Now for the question - if I put my card details on Google Pay, would someone be able to do the same thing - does the phone constantly emit my card details and would a scanning device read my card details from my phone, or would I have to open the app or be actively using it for paying something??
I hope this all makes sense :)

[Hopkirk]

I don't know the answer, hopefully someone else will.

However I have a similar worry. What I do is keep NFC switched off on my phone. If I want to use Google Pay (which is very seldom) I switch NFC on. After making the payment I switch it off again.

[Buenchico]

It might be unwise to assume that your card was compromised by something that happened on the day in question or that any form of contactless technology was involved. Someone took £800, in three transactions, from one of my Santander cards. It was a only a 'cash card', not a debit card. (i.e. it could only be used in ATMs, not in stores and it had no contactless or chip-&-pin facility). Further, that card was for my 'reserve' account and hadn't been out of my wallet for over a year. So I've absolutely no idea how it could have been cloned but it might have been done over a year prior to the withdrawals being made.

With regard to your question though, using NFC (near-field communication) on your phone to pay for goods is generally considered safer than carrying cash. If you're worried though, simply turn NFC off when you're not using it. (With most Android phones, you just need to scroll down from the home page to access the option to toggle NFC on and off).

[Gizmonster]

Cheers for the replies - I'll probably put ,y card details on and keep NFC turned off, which is what I do anyway and just toggle it on and off when I need to pay.
Just to clarify this card hasn't been used in aaaaages, no ATM usage or anything like that .... I'm a window cleaner and I'm a cash chappie. It just seems too much of a coincidence that the first time I use it in aaaages, I get a fraudulent transaction a week later.
Anyway, let's not dwell on that - I'll never know where, when and how my card was compromised - I just wanted to know if Google Pay is more secure. If I keep NFC switched off, it should be impossible to read my card details from my phone yea??

[Buenchico]

^^^ Agreed.

[Gizmonster]

Just to correct my typo on the first line:
I'll probably put MY card details on .....

[Hopkirk]

What's cash?

Oh, I think I remember it.