Guest Drops Apple Watch on EPCOT Ride & Jumps Out to Get It, Then Has $40,000 in Fraudulent Credit Card Charges

Katie Francis

Guest Drops Apple Watch on EPCOT Ride & Jumps Out to Get It, Then Has $40,000 in Fraudulent Credit Card Charges

A woman lost her watch on a ride at EPCOT last month. That innocent mistake cost more than $40,000. Here’s what happened, according to the report from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.

The woman was fidgeting with her Apple watch while she rode the slow-moving The Seas with Nemo & Friends attraction on April 13. The ride was in an elevated position, the woman said, at the worst possible time when the watch popped off her wrist.

The Apple Hermès watch — which is worth $1,300 — fell through the grated floor on the ride. It tumbled down and landed on a pathway below. The woman could see her watch, but it was just out of reach while she was stuck on the ride.

Her husband jumped off the moving ride to try and retrieve it — a big no-no at Walt Disney World.
Operators stopped the ride momentarily, and a Cast Member came over and reminded the woman and her husband they weren’t allowed to get off the ride while in motion. The Cast Member assured them she could see the watch too, and Disney would return it to them at their hotel.

The woman had good reason to be worried. She had several credit cards linked to the watch, including an American Express card with an unlimited credit line, the report said.

The woman, who was staying at Disney’s Contemporary Resort, filed an incident with Disney Guest Relations to see if anyone had retrieved the fallen watch. She went back later, and no one had turned it in. “The staff advised her that they did not have the watch,” the report said.

Then came the fraud alerts.

The woman “advised that has several fraud alerts throughout the course of the day on her Amex card. According to the victim, there was approximately $40,000 of fraudulent charges on her card,” the report said.

The woman said she shut down the credit cards attached to the missing watch.

The woman wanted to prosecute whoever rang up the charges and contacted the Orange County Sheriff’s Office to report grand theft, according to the report taken April 14. She was told to research the fraudulent charges so authorities could track where the card was used. Disney Security was also notified.

The woman’s name and other information are redacted on the sheriff’s report, which also doesn’t give any indication of what the thief bought for $40,000.

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256 thoughts on “Guest Drops Apple Watch on EPCOT Ride & Jumps Out to Get It, Then Has $40,000 in Fraudulent Credit Card Charges”

  1. Yeah ok. Smells rotten. Your Apple Watch is locked. You need a code to unlock it to use the card. You can only use the default card at a reader and you can not see card numbers from your watch. You can erase it from your Apple iPhone. You can disable the watch from your iPhone. Are you guys that desperate for headlines?

      • Please follow up on this story! I for one am fascinated – either she is scamming or someone managed a pretty amazing feat with her watch in a very short amount of time.

      • I call bs on this. I was on that ride and she dropped a bag of coke that fell into my nose while I was upside-down and that is not all of it

      • And to everybody saying that it automatically locks that’s not true I don’t use a lock on my Hermes wrist detection is true, but not hard for someone to gain access but she should have immediately had her phone out or husband phone to track it however I can think of times where my wife does not bring her phone and I’ve used my watch with Apple Pay only I am finding it hard to believe that $40,000 in charges were made and she was unable to stop it.

    • It’s something that happened at WDW – it’s not like that’s a hotbed of news so not sure what you were expecting.

    • Its likely her credit card was compromised elsewhere, which is not unheard of on vacations. My card was cloned in Cozumel by an unscrupulous merchant or one of the staff members and then used to purchase airline tickets. It is highly unlikely someone mayde a 40K purchase using a watch, even if they got past the pin code and other security measures. In any case, credit cards typically refund fraudulent charges, no questions asked.

    • I just got one of those watches a few weeks ago and the lock code was optional. I did set it up, but I didn’t set up any credit card on this. Edging my bets. :)

    • Not an apple user, and not spending $1300 on a watch, but is the lock required or just “common” sense? and how hard is it to crack? There are still way to many completely tech illiterate people out there, and if they through they were getting it back they might not have thought about or known how to disable the cards on the watch.

    • Right and no credit card company would allow that much in charges without checking with the cardholder. I’ve been asked to verify charges for less than $1000

      • You can set up Touch using your fingerprint when using any card on Apple Pay. No one. Can use any cards you gave on Apple Pay. And any large purchases it will require to get a verification code to authorize your purchase. I’m having a hard time believing this story!!

    • Yeah, the lady must think we all are as stupid as she is to believe a cockamamie story like the one she told. Unless she has fat wrists & arms, I don’t see how her Apple Watch could just “pop off” like she said. But if it did, fine, I’ll give her that, but WHY would she leave the park WITHOUT her $1300 Hermes Apple Watch that was not only linked to credit cards, but also linked an UNLIMITED Amex credit card? Nope, I’m not leaving & waiting at my hotel for a Disney employee to return it to me, but if I HAD to leave, I’d be tracking my overpriced watch on the “Find my” app. She HAD to have seen it’s location change & the very minute it didn’t start heading my way, I’d have it locked & all my connected credit cards put on hold. She didn’t do that, so that’s a BIG red flag that tells me she didn’t lose it & planned this whole ridiculous theft/fraud story so she could get some free loot by running up charges herself & claiming fraud. With the FIRST fraud alert, you’d think she’d have the card canceled or something. How would the “thief” continue to use it to pay for stuff? Actually, a passcode is needed before each transaction so it’s not possible. Entire story is bs. Bunk. I’m not buying what she’s selling.

      • Your absolutely right. I have an apple watch and when it comes off yoir wrist you must teenter the code. And who the hell would put these cards especially yhe inlimited one??????
        A scammer telling ppl she had been scammed. I wouldnt leave intil
        I had the watch. Should remove those things before going on any ride. Ridiculous!!!!!!!!!!!!

    • Doesnt apple have like ridiculous security features. There wss a news report a few years back where the police had to get in a killers phone and apple refused to help them hack it. I dont think the cops ever where able to get into it, but suspect it had the leads to the rest of the dead victems.

    • Um, this IS a website about Disney, you do understand that, right? Not sure what huge news this story is taking away from, but sir, you’re also the one who made the decision to not only click on this article, but to also read it. Not sure who your complaint is with. Also, they’ll be able to prove if this is a hoax or not. Jumping to conclusions before you know all of the facts, which we don’t, usually makes people look foolish.

    • For real. Plus you can use the “Find My” app to find your watch. All this technology and people dont know how to use it properly.

    • I don’t think the story is made up about this lady claiming this happened. In other words I don’t think it’s clickbait.

      I think the lady really did file the report with the police. I even believe that her losing her watch was legit. She had a ride operator as a witness. She can’t fake that, but that’s where it ends. I think the lady is capitalizing on losing her watch to get out of some charges.

      What’s more is, the people who posted the story probably also know this, but can’t prove it. The clickbait comes from the fact that they’ll have the jump on the story when she inevitably gets caught.

    • In today’s world you need a pin or pass code for EVERYTHING.THIS WAS CLEARLY A SCAM AND A WHOLE LOT OF BS.No doubt about it🤦🏽👎.Miss me with that one.I Agree with you Jeffery!

    • Here’s the real rub: because AMEX and the like, including car insurance, now all just want to settle any claim. They don’t care who’s right or who’s wrong in any claim or accident. It takes much longer and is much more expensive to investigate claims than to just settle them knowing some of them will indeed be fraudulent like this one. This woman will continue to take advantage of this policy until she is discovered and cut off. However, only a few years later she can have a new credit score and do the same thing. She probably has a rotation of credit cards to perpetuate this fraud.

    • I think it is fake too. I had my phone slide under the monorail when trying to get in the train on a Friday and the cell phone was returned to me on Sunday right before we had to check out. WDW worked diligently in getting it and the Art of Animation resort’s Front Desk Manager took ownership of the situation from beginning to end. No fraudulent charges were posted to any of my cards and my phone wasn’t charged. Also, for that to have happened, the person would’ve had to know the code to unlock the device.

  2. This doesn’t make sense because to use Apple Pay (which is how you would use credit cards loaded on the watch) you need to have a passcode and wrist detection enabled. When the watch detects you’ve removed it from your wrist, it locks and you must enter the passcode to use any credit cards loaded.

    I mean guess the person who lost her watch could have made the passcode 1234, but if you have an Amex Platinum card loaded you would hope the person would use a more complex passcode.

    • Weird that she doesn’t have life-lock or something similar. If that were to happen to me I would get a call prior to any transactions. On top of that how did the thief know the code? That could have only happened if she didn’t have a passcode. Very odd.

      • You can’t load Apple Pay unless a passcode is activated. & Amex typically calls before they let a charge that large just got through. Whole story is questionable.

    • Why was the idiot fidgeting with her on the ride in the first place? She should have left well enough alone. This was her reward for herlack of patience/stupidity.

    • Long before today’s technology linked Accts. I had my AMEX acct. accessed by a waiter who copied my info. Even though I had security Passcodes on both my AMEX and AMEX Optima access, the thief was ASSISTED by AMEX customer service in circumventing the passcodes to gain access to BOTH my accounts, the cards to which were always in my possession except when I had paid my dining bill. AMEX ate the fraudulent charges but refused any cooperation in trying to prosecute those involved.

    • Well said.People put on the poor old lady act or just plain ohmy God I got scammed and it is sad because when It’s really true people get screwed out of belief because of this b.s.Codes pin # etc all have to be put in alot of items like the apple watch she claimed to lose..Who looks stupid now..nice try but ugggh I don’t think she could afford a apple for that b.s. story never-ending the watch.

  3. Wow talk about a bad day. First she loses her warcha dn her husband jumps out to get it, then she gets charged with credit card fraud.

    • Life lock is actually a scam. Trust me. It’s an overpriced fee, and the services provided are negligible.

      Her bank/credit card company should have been able to alert her via other methods; email, call… or if the charges seemed outrageous the credit card company will shut down the card so no further potential fraud occurs.

      A story without all the real facts and correct details.

  4. Apple Pay doesn’t work like that. If the watch is not constantly on the wearer after entering a passcode or within 50 or so feet of the wearer’s iPhone, you can’t make any purchases with an Apple Watch.

    • You can make a purchase without iphone, only with watch. I purchase things in stores when i left my phone at home. For purchasing with apple pay you don’t need internet, wifi or cell data

    • Just to clarify, with the Apple Watch there is an option that you can have it set up as an active phone line in which you pay an additional fee to use it as such therefore you don’t have to have your phone near it for usage of various things. Also, it’s the user’s option to have the passcode setting enabled on the watch, so maybe she didn’t have a passcode set up at the time. And honestly the watch won’t automatically lock after realizing it’s no longer on the user’s wrist anymore, that too is an option to select for setup.

  5. If she would have put a passcode on her watch this never would have happened. Not to mention once she lost her watch she should have used her phone to remove the credit cards. Or she could have used the Find My feature to locate the watch. So many options that could have prevented this $40,000 in fraudulent charges. The biggest head scratcher is how the watch just popped off and fell during the ride. Buying the most expensive model of iWatch and not learning how to use it makes perfect sense to me.

    • You must have a passcode if you have Apple pay enabled. The watch locks of it’s off your wrist. Apple pay will not work. She could have easily disabled the cards on her phone. All of this story is bs.

      • She probably dropped the watch to make the false charges herself!
        Brilliant, since the watch locks and none of the info can be passed on without the code!

  6. That doesn’t sound right
    The Apple Watch will lock when removed from the wrist and require a pin code.
    No transactions would be possible.
    I smell a rat.

    • None of this is possible first Apple Watch locks once you take it off, secondly if the phone and watch are further apart then 25’ Apple Pay will not work. Thirdly Amex would only allow more than $10,000 in transactions if that is what you usually do and once they talk with you via a phone to ensure you have funds to cover such transactions j

  7. This sounds fishy. An Apple Watch needs a PiN to unlock it before you can use Apple Pay.

    • Alot of ppl use stupidity simple passcodes on their stuff like 0000, 1234, ect….after my mom passed away I had to get into her phone but didn’t have the code it was her birthday 0804…

  8. I’m thinking this woman and her husband are scammers. I find it hard to believe that she could see the watch below the tracks after she claimed it had fallen off. The ride is moving and its dark. She would have been 10 feet down the track by the time she looked down. Why didn’t the watch fall into the ride vehicle? Why didn’t she immediately cancel her credit cards?

  9. Complete crap! American Express would have frozen the account after repeated charges that were not normal! More fake bullshit media crap. Also why did it take over a month for this incident to be reported. What a joke!

  10. What’s dumba**, I mean why would you fidget with the watch while on a ride and not either wait until the ride is over or do it before even getting on the ride. It may sound cold and harsh but I’m glad this happened to her as now she’s learned a valuable lesson about the apple watches

  11. Don’t you need to know the pin or password to even use apple pay?

    I know on Samsung pay you have to input a pin before using any card on the watch.

    She lying.

  12. Apple Watch Apple Pay only works if wrist detection and a passcode are set. It doesn’t seem likely the Watch could have been used for this fraud.

  13. Apple Watch needs a pass code to open and use wallet. How did this happen? Mine deleted all the credit cards if you don’t add a pass code, so this exact thing doesn’t happen. I am really apprehensive about wearing it in the park if there is a work around to this safety feature. Any one know? Thanks

  14. Sounds like a scam. Apple watches lock the moment its take off and can not be used with apple pay unless its unlocked.

  15. Yup, apple makes garbage products. Every time my galaxy watch comes off my wrist I have to log back in before I can even use the watch let alone the credit cards on it

  16. I wonder if there was a iphone setting they could have toggle like the lock card setting through many apps. I lost my android watch there is at least a lock my device option. Seems like someone was moving real fast to spend 40k before the device should have asked for a secuity question before letting more get used on the watch.

  17. All the title needs to say is Guest Drops Apple Watch on EPCOT Ride Which Leads into $40,000 in Fraudulent Credit Card Charges. The part with and then jumps out to get it makes the title confusing.

  18. I call BS on this person’s report. The watch locks the moment you take it off and you can’t use Apple Pay on an Apple Watch unless you have the watch’s PIN number or the associated iPhone and you can unlock the iPhone.

      • You have to have a pincode in use if you want to use your apple wallet. If you remove the code you get an alert that says you can’t use your wallet. Believe me…I have tried everything to bypass this :)

      • Yes. But as soon as you select to turn off the passcode, Apple Pay is removed from the Watch. Try it yourself.

    • Agreed 100% – I own an Apple. Mine you I don’t have a fancy Hermes band (not worth it) but yes you cannot charge to Apple Pay without the pin or double click tap feature. Similar the phones Apple Pay feature.
      Total BS and the lady shouldn’t of spent so much money.

    • Maybe possible in this instance. I don’t have an Apple Watch, I like self winding watches (old fashioned), but I knew of several people who would stick the password/code somewhere on the band or on their cellphone as they couldn’t remember it. I know that is a self defeating moronic idea in and of itself, but if they are stupid or frivolous enough to buy an expensive watch band…

      This is actually tremendously ironic. Hermes Apple Watch. Hermes was also reputed as the god of thieves. LOLOL

      • LOLOL Uh, no, good sir, Hermes was the messenger of the Gods. More specifically to Zeus. He was Not the theif of the Gods. If you’re going to act like a nerd, at least acurately know your mythology first. … And for everyone else I want to be absolutely clear on this … I am in No Way defending Apple. I am a Samsung owner 1,000%. (Note 20 Ultra 5g, best phone ever made. Paired with a Galaxy watch.) I will never touch an Apple product, they burn my fingers. But I have give credit to them for giving the “Hermes” name to that particular Apple watch model. Smart move for a smart watch. Sadly tho, the person in this story has proven that buying a smart watch does Not make you smart. Which apparently was the Only reason she had it. And yeah, she wasn’t even smart enough to keep it on her wrist. I bet she drinks “smart” water too. And drives a “smart” car

  19. Im confused… That ride has no place you could drop something that would land on a public walkway…. This sounds an aweful low likes this sites usual clickbait likely false articles…. Journalism is dead i guess.

    • It fell through a grate into “a” walkway… Seems to imply it was some place that people can’t normally get to.

    • I love the idea of people turning to WDW News Today for hard hitting journalism as opposed to what it actually is – a theme park gossip blog site.

      • Real newspapers have covered police reports for decades. It turns out people on the internet may not know what journalism is, shocking I know.

      • Facts Disney should be at fault whoever operated it must have took it karma will get you

    • That’s not what the article says. It says she dropped it inside the ride, and fell through the grated floor. I’m not saying her story is true, all I’m saying is you clearly didn’t read the article throughly, or you would know it wasn’t a sidewalk.

  20. When something is that expensive and important, it should be retrieved immediately. We’ve had lost wallets returned to us at Disneyland California with cash in tact.. Just another reason to be more careful who WDW hires!

    • When something drops anywhere near the power source found at the bottom of the ride track. Cast members are not allowed to get it. You have to wait till end of day ride track walk, that’s why they say secure your belongings cause we aren’t stopping the ride for an hour for EVERYONE so the approve people can be dispatched to get one persons stuff that’s crazy.

      • I’m not even blinking while on a ride at that overpriced place let alone playing with my expensive watch!!!

    • The article is almost certainly BS. The watch would have locked the moment it fell off her wrist.

        • Hey Tom, I work in apples retail Tech support department and have to explain this security feature to customers multiple times a week but maybe next time when someone writes an article you should have them do a little bit of research instead of writing out or maybe even copy pasting the police report.
          If they did an ounce of research they would find that in order to use Apple Pay on an Apple Watch you NEED to have a passcode on it. If you do not enter the passcode while wearing the watch you cannot use Apple Pay or use a multitude of the features on the watch.
          If that detail were to be added to the article it would make it a lot more compelling to the readers.

          • We can not take sides in a police report for safety from legal repercussions, you as the reader have to decide for yourself. We can only disseminate the information provided, which was crafted to the highest of standards.

      • Apple sucks, I don’t use their products. That being said wouldn’t she have gotten an alert for such expensive items? Also was she literally hanging her arm over the clam shell and messing with the band? If you keep your hands inside the vehicle like told it would drop in it, not in the belt. I call BS and of course this site doesn’t know junk about journalism or blogging. Just sensational click bait. Signed, a real journalist.

      • Hermes Apple Watch band opens up loose screw they need to fix it I almost lost my 1500$ Iwatch 3 times

    • True facts I would have got my watch if I see it I get it the husband should have got his wife’s watch it’s expensive as it is 3 iwatch prices just over 1 Hermes so it’s expensive hope they find who did this Disney should be at fault know who your hiring

  21. This can’t be true. I mean not everyone is as smart as we think but wouldn’t they have a passcode on the watch and phone. You can’t just make charges unless you left everything wide open and insecure all the time. In addition, It would seem Disney would be on the hook because it was in a closed space that could only be accessed by cast members. Hmmm…

    • What on this planet makes you think Disney would be liable for anything related to this ? The fool dropped her watch, not Disney or an employee of Disney. If you lose your wallet at Walmart is Walmart responsible? If you lose a jacket on a Bus is the bus company liable??
      Finally, the person claiming to have lost the watch is not on the hook for ANY fraudulent charges as the bank is legally the victim, not the owner.

      • Disney became responsilble when a disney employee acknowledged they saw the watch, stopped her from getting it, informed her Disney would retrive it for her, & did not return it.

  22. Seems more to this story…. One apple watch wallet cannot be used unless code is given, or is near the original device to bypass passcode.
    Second Person would have to use apple pay for said purchases totaling $40,000 which is unlikely but regardless this would require her passcode to even attempt to do. Not only that if she marked said apple watch as lost on find my all the cards in apple wallet would
    Be suspended until owner prompts otherwise. In Conclusion this seems to me that owner isn’t telling a full story and is probably trying to get out of a big spending bill.

  23. I also think this story is BS. Not only is it technically impossible, but there’s no follow-up to what the police were going to do nor a response from Disney.

    I also find it odd that this story was only reported here.

  24. What a moron, for one wearing a watch that expensive and two having an unlimited card on it. Just sounds like she was asking for trouble.

  25. While it’s true a passcode is not “required” for reactivation when off-wrist, I agree someone who paid 3x for the Hermes version would likely have a passcode in place. By the way, the story did not explain why the owner did not just use the “find my device” feature when the ride ended 5 minutes later… and just go get their watch! Or at least wipe the Watch with her phone, you can kill the credit cards on the Watch remotely instantly.

  26. For people saying you need a code. That isn’t necessarily true. You don’t have to enable a code in your Apple Watch. So if the passcode is disabled and you double click the side it will not require a code.

    • You can’t configure ApplePay on the watch if you don’t use a code. So if she didn’t enable a code, she couldn’t have stored her “unlimited Amex” on the watch.

  27. There are so many problems with this story… Why were they fiddling with their expensive watch on a ride. Did she not have a passcode on the watch? Did she not have her phone or not know how to use the Amex app to turn off your card? Or do it the old fashioned way and call Amex…

  28. Total BS, the watch locks immediately if it detects it’s not on your wrist there’s no way to even input the code. Unfortunately I think this woman ran up a bunch of charges, and figured a good way to get out of them.

  29. She could have immediately suspended the linked credit cards until she got her watch back and ensured there were no fraudulent charges. My guess is that she made the whole thing up and filed a false police report.

  30. Yea this is not adding up. The watch locks the minute it’s removed from the wrist. I smell a fraud case.

    • Well it does lock but you can opt out of making a passcode for it so now anyone can use it. Your welcome.

    • Well you can opt out of making a passcode for it so now anyone can use it. Your welcome.

      • You can’t configure ApplePay on the watch if you don’t use a code. So if she didn’t enable a code, she couldn’t have stored her “unlimited Amex” on the watch. If you disable the code, any cards are automatically removed.

  31. This doesn’t make sense. You have to had a passcode on your watch, especially if you have cards linked.

    From what I understand if feature is later turned off (passcode) your card(s) will be removed automatically from Apple Pay on the device.

    So there is no way someone could have used her watch

  32. What the heck are they talking about? This ride is slow and doesn’t change to an elevated position, ever.

      • Where does it change elevation? I’m not trying to be argumentative, just genuinely curious. I’ve ridden a handful of times over the past years and never really noticed, but I’m usually just looking at the ride scenery and not so much what’s below or around. Thanks!

  33. I call shinanigans. Either this is a crock story or the woman made a bunch of charges that she doesn’t want to pay. 1st, you need a pin to unlock the watch before you can make a purchase. 2nd, even if fraud were committed with your watch or phone, you wouldn’t need to cancel the linked cards. You would only have to delete the digital cards, then create new cards on the watch or phone.

  34. Your story states this happened at Disney world which is in Florida, but the lady filed a report in orange county CA which is where Disney land is…? As others have said, this article smells fishy, and it ain’t Flounder.

  35. I’m not typically a skeptic about these types of reports, but this case sounds to me like the woman who lost the watch is the one who committed the crime.

  36. The one who lost the watch wouldn’t be held responsible. If there were things purchased and shipped it would be easy to track. I am also calling b.s. something doesn’t add up.

  37. If the watch has its own cellular service then it doesn’t need to be near the phone. Also it’s only a six digit code. So someone could guess that

  38. If the cast member said that they could see the watch as well and would retrieve it, why did the owner not just stay there at the end of the ride and wait for someone to go get her watch? I would not have left until the watch was back on my wrist, right at the end of the ride.

    • Because they said it would be returned to her hotel room in the article. They don’t give it to her on the spot after the ride.

  39. Calling bs on this story! There is no way anyone but her could have made the charges unless she’s that dumb to have a passcode like 1,2,3,4 or she’sa blatant liar and she made the charges. Either way, it’s her fault!

  40. I can believe the watch was lost but the rest is ridiculously hard to believe. Some of the story isn’t impossible but where on the ride was this dropped that it fell through a grated floor to a pathway below and how could they have not been consistently alerted about their apple pay activity if someone was able to get past their passcode?

  41. Epcot-is “not” in Orange County. And if it was, this ride is “not” located in Epcot.

      • I swear it’s like people think California is the ONLY state to have an Orange County!

        News flash people: Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida is located in ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA.

  42. Kinda hard to really give a shit about her $1,300 watch and unlimited line of credit.. boo hoo.

    • We cover all of these interesting police reports. Based on a million readers already, I think it certainly has captured enough interest to prove it was worth publishing for consumption. I thought it was fascinating, the world has agreed.

  43. Doesn’t make sense. Applempay requires a password to complete transactions. The theif would have had to unlock the watch to make a payment. If the password was 00000 that’s a really dumb user. Beyond that most tap transactions are limited to 100-250 per tap. 40,000/200 = 200. So the thief also managed about 200 transactions in under a few hours? Even in Disney that takes quite a bit of determination.

  44. With any kind of expensive wear what people can do before enjoying any rides is get the smallest cable tie and insert it through the watch band holes once you have it on and secure the tie. There is no way you will lose anything with a cable tie.😉

  45. I can speak for Google pay on Wear OS, the watch payment method has to be unlocked with the phone within BT range. Or the watch itself just be unlocked with a passcode. Sounds fishy to me.

  46. As others said, this story doesn’t track. Apple Pay needs a pin after coming off the wrist. Even if you turn “wrist detection” off.

    Unless that pin is something like 4 numbers in a row, so seriously doubtful some rando is going to crack it to make 40k worth of purchases(as you need to put the pin in every time). Even if that were the case, Apple Pay on the watch only works in physical contact form. So you can’t go to websites and just buy something or transfer money. So IF(and I stress “if”) the watch was used, then all purchases were made in person. (So video should reveal this, as WDW has a camera or two…)

    Third, “find my watch” wasn’t on? You have a “$1300” watch and turned off the default-setting of gps-tracking your watch? And you can’t turn it off from the watch side, so the “thief” certainly didn’t turn it off.

    Fourth, I’ve had an Apple Watch for years, NEVER has it ever just “popped off”. I’ve struggled putting it on, but once it’s on, it ain’t going anywhere without “help”.

    So in short, false police report and someone trying to get out of spending 40k in purchases by using the opportunity of a “lost watch”.

    Please be sure to follow up on this one, I’d love to hear when she’s arrested.

  47. Sounds fishy to me. If i had dropped my watch with so many cards attached to it i would have shut down the cards right then so they could not be used. Sounds like she wants Disney to pay for her trip.

  48. The part about Disney saying “we will get it for you” and doesn’t follow thru rings true to me. Was in Disney World and their bus had just dropped us off at EPCOT. As the bus pulled away (empty) I realized I left a back pack on the bus. Ran over to a nearby bus that was parked and told the driver what had happened. He got on the radio and assured us he’d get the back pack and have it returned to lost and found. It was another 5 days we were in Disney band the pack never showed back up.

  49. Load of BS, My watch locks the moment it isn’t on my wrist and it either needs to be near my phone to be unlocked OR you have to have the passcode. Apple also doesn’t let you link credit cards without a passcode.

  50. What is with these people getting out of moving rides or playing on their electronics while on a ride. This woman was not intelligent at all and this is a good example people are too dependant on technology.

  51. Unlimited credit line on the expensive watch dropped out during the ride…. Poor rich person, let’s all be sad.

  52. I worked for Disney for 9 years. We would have guest wait at exit until Maintenance would retrieve item. Hey, a pair of sunglasses is a pair of sunglasses. But a Apple Watch is entirely different. Remember that Disney Cast Members work for peanuts.

  53. Sounds like she committed the fraud herself. Probably how she got the watchtower begin with, if it was even a Hermes watch. Probably a knock off watch. There is no way any credit car company isn’t going g to question 40,000 dollars even with an unlimited Amex. Sounds like she is trying to scam Disney.

  54. Sorry folks, I really don’t believe this woman’s claim! There’s something fishy going on!!!

  55. Lame click bait story, it’s missing an ending, I kept scrolling down to read what happened, but nothing but these comments…

  56. Agree…also if she was really that worried she could have called Apple or logged into iCloud account herself and in about 5 minutes put the watch into lost mode (complete lock down). This story is outside of the boundaries of belief.

  57. This is such BS… You can locate your apple watch from your iphone and even send alarm . This story doesn’t make sense .

  58. This makes no sense at all – for two reasons:
    1) the cards that are stored on the Apple Watch can’t be used unless the watch is unlocked via passcode, and she had to have had a passcode in order to setup Apple Pay and
    2) if you ever do lose your watch or iPhone, apple has features made exactly for these situations which unlink your cards/deactivate the card link from the device immediately after losing it, even if the device itself has no internet connection (the actual card numbers are not stored on Apple Pay, a separate identifier is which is how it knows what card you are using. This identified can be unlinked from your card from anywhere and any time).

    I’m guess she probably racked up the $40,000 bill herself at Disney and saw this “lost watch” as the perfect opportunity to get a nice, all expense paid vacation. However she failed to realize it’s impossible to do what she claims and if she is fraudulently reporting this, she will be be caught as there are cameras everywhere there is a payment terminal – Disney or not.

  59. I see the very real probability this story is fully legit. Many thieves are very tech savvy and could have gotten past all security measures the watch may have had. Not common, but possible.

    • Apple’s security measures are such that even the legitimate owner couldn’t bypass the security measures if he/she forgot or otherwise didn’t have the passcode. Ask anyone who’s ever forgotten their passcode how difficult it is to get the passcode reset, even after proving to Apple that you are the legitimate owner.

      Apple Wallet requires that a passcode be selected prior to adding any spending cards to it for use.

      The whole story doesn’t make sense. Sounds like the owner is also the thief.

    • Nope—you need a passcode to use the wallet. Their charges are unrelated to the watch “coming off” mid-ride.

    • It’s physically impossible. There’s no tech way to get around the passcode. Also, you can disable the cards from your phone. Also, you can enable the funds 6 my watch or remotely delete your watch. None of this story makes sense and it’s not possible from a technical standpoint. What’s more than likely is she made a large amount of purchases and had buyers remorse. You’re physical card numbers are not stored at all in Apple pay. Only a one time use token.

    • So weird nothing makes sense here.

      Wouldn’t you call the cc company and file a lost CC. You should’ve locked your watch through your iPhone as soon as you lost it.

      • That’s exactly what I was thinking. All you have to do is go in your wallet on your iPhone, and lock or remove your cards. Something stinks about this story. If she was an intelligent person, she would’ve taken security measures immediately.

  60. Ummm. . First thing I would have done was shut off the cards.
    This smells like a big pile of bulls***

  61. I have a Samsung so I dont know how Apple watches work, but on my watch it is possible to disable the PIN requirement to activate the watch payment. What I don’t understand is why the woman didn’t call the card companies immediately as soon as the ride stopped if she was that worried.

  62. I left a backpack on a ride @ California Adventure under the seat with my car keys, $$$, credit cards, ID. It was 25 minutes after I departed the ride before I realized where I left it. I went back to the ride and got everything back. Employees refused $ I wanted to $ give I was so grateful.

  63. 1000 comments from people all saying the exact same thing. Forget the article, do any of you people read even a few of the comments before posting your own? It’s like reading a thousand people talking over each other. We get it, the tech doesn’t work that way, the person would need a pin number, the whole article sounds like it’s either bullcrap or the people are scammers. I bet 1000 more people comment after me saying the same things you all already said. Everyone wants to talk, no one wants to listen. 🤦

  64. The Samsung warriors on here calling Apple products crap 😅. When’s the last time Apple had to pay people because a phone exploded on them 😒. And the Apple Watch requires a pin if it comes off the wrist but good job strong work.. plus any smart person who lost their watch would have disconnected the cards which would not have worked on the watch seeing as it was not on the users wrist. Gotta love fake stories trying to get traction 😂😂😂😂.

    • Only millennials with no tech skills buy Apple. Any real computer or IT person stays away from them. Junk since the 90s when you were embarrassed to own Apple products because no company made compatible software and hardware for them. Just a cool, expensive toy!

  65. Also who doesnt just go online and freeze their cards as soon as it happen and once stopped and off the ride. Frreeze ur card in case u find and then unfreeze. Lost then doesnt matter any way. I call b.s.

  66. Sound like someone is trying to discredit apple watch security features, a person with a apple watch know this is impossible….
    So either the person is trying to scam to get out of paying there bill, discredit the apple security feature, effect the stock price by putting out bad information and stopping people from purchasing, either way the person who wrote this article should do fact checking before the article went to print.

  67. As said above. You have to enter a passcode to use these apps. Same with Gpay. Have to enter passcode to open it and use it. This story doesn’t sound right.

  68. Has the owner or the police tried to call the phone number of the lost iPhone watch see who picked it up? Or the find switch? Still think it’s a hoax .

  69. People don’t realize what happened. The couple dumped the watch overboard, made a huge scene, went back to the hotel, then charged 40K worth of stuff themselves.

  70. I agree with the comments about the passcode. What’s more, cardholders aren’t responsible for fraudulent activity. I have the plat charge card too, and know that they will negate charges that were inappropriately debited.

    If it’s a scam, it’s not well thought out. She’s gonna get nothing and possible jail for fraud.

  71. Even if it was real, why would you be so dumb to play with your watch or anything on the ride. That should have been tucked in her fanny pack.

  72. Remember the days when retailers used to compare the signatures on the back of the card? Remember actually carrying a card?oh,technology .

  73. When I take my Apple Watch off, it locks and requires a code to access it. If I were to lose it, I can get on my phone and find my device. I can also get on my phone and reset it, thereby erasing the watch content and settings. She should have done that immediately. It can always be re-set up easily. This story sounds a bit fishy to me.

  74. 🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂I’m one who just reads and occasionally chuckles, but never have I ever pissed myself from laughing so hard as I just did

  75. We know the wallet can’t be used when the Apple Watch is locked, the question is if the guest had their disney ticket with express mode enabled, which at that point acts like a magicband. Which oh Hey more than likely would still need the pin, haha super fishy.

  76. I just can’t see how this happened.. American Express would already have shut this down. As soon as unusual charges are made Amex would notify you. Along with every other credit card company charges are being made on.. in order for 40k in charges to happen she would need to spend that typically in a day regularly. Why didn’t she remotely lock her watch from her phone. She could even erased it. She could have even locked all her credit cards she has on her Apple pay.

  77. I worked for WDW few years back and installed that ride if the watch fail down from the seat below the ride . Only employees has excess to that area . If the story is true mechanic on night shift got it because the ride don’t stop all day it continued moving ride .

  78. Most of the comments on here are ridiculous and rude. You’re making a lot of assumptions. She may not have had a passcode. She was probably fiddling with it because she probably just got it. Given that she was wearing it with an Hermes band, I have a feeling that maybe she was an elderly woman who had just gotten her first Apple watch. For all of you saying that you need a passcode for Apple pay do you really think that the person who stole it was carrying around the watch and then using the Apple pay? No, ding dongs. The person who stole it grab the credit card information out of the watch. And yes you can do that. I don’t know if she’s the froster or not but your assumptions are unfounded. I think it’s just an old woman who messed up. Don’t be rude.

  79. As 1,000 people have already said-Apple watches do not work that way.
    But, could it have been a Magicband? Seems like those are much more likely to pop off and much easier to use to buy all sorts of Disney food/merchandise without much concern of being caught.

  80. Her husband jumped off to get the watch. He got it and went to the strip club later and made it rain.

  81. Anyone ever seen the movie “Breaking Glass”? I bet the reporter, who never had a iWatch made this story up. I bet this never happened.

  82. I doubt the story is anything more than fabricated by the website for people to click an article. So little of it actually adds up, I guess you all are just too silly to realize it was just something to get you to generate views and comments for the page.. at the very best completely sensationalized. At the worst completely made up.

  83. Or that desperate for Money. After reading the story sounds like a plot and plan. Did they ever show the time stamp and charges for the $40K?

  84. Did she have her hands outside the vehicle while she was fiddling with her watch? If her hands were in her lap there’s no way she could have dropped it outside the ride. It would have fallen on the floor beside her feet. I don’t recall the floor of the vehicle having any openings.

  85. it takes two seconds to google wrist watches can be hacked. i dont mind fact checking, its a public service, it did not take me long. yall are welcome

  86. I work for apple , there’s nooooooo way possible that this happened the way she said it did ….. people will say anything to get attention .

  87. I think she had already spent the 40k on her unlimited credit card before the watch ‘fell off’ and she’s lying about an employee saying they’d bring it back as a means to sue Disney and/or not pay for supposedly ‘fraudulent’ charges. This definitely seems pre-planned. 🙄

  88. Something extremely fishy is going on here. The obvious thing is that if you turn off your password, it will automatically delete your Apple Pay, and you won’t be able to use it. So either she had a super easy code to figure out or she is full of crap. I’m going to go with the latter.

  89. As soon as the watch fell off and they stopped the ride, she should’ve demanded to be let off, so that she could retrieve her watch. I mean, that’s not usually done, but they don’t usually stop rides and say, we see your watch either. And why would you leave the ride without it? I smell a rat 🐀

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