MTA*NYCT PAYGO RECOVER charge on credit card

I live in Russia and have never been to New York, I don't even have a visa, but I was charged $2.75 twice without even requiring confirmation. I had to block the card... :(

What a F!?

Where did they get my card details? Over the past month, I have only used this card on the Internet once per 6 months and it was about 2 weeks ago, when I transferred some money to my QIWI account.

Apple, please ask for confirmation for each payment. We do not want to lose our money due to your imperfect system!

Same problem here. They charged me a recover fee of $16 for one day when I didn't even take the train. Just opened a dispute with my credit card but Apple doesn't seem to address the problem with their wallet option and the MTA has not resolved the problem either. Will cancel my credit card all together and use the metrocard old system. This is insane!

There's something weird going on with OMNY - they've managed to charge my card multiple times in the last month and I've been nowhere near NYC for years, and I'm not the only one:

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskNYC/comments/ny6ciz/got_mysteriously_charged_3_times_by_mta_paygo/

and a few more threads in r/AskNYC.

I was charged 4 times last week by ‘mta nyct paygo recover’, but I live in Belgium and have never been to the US. My credit card was not even activated for payments in the US! I blocked my card and recovered the money but I will not use Apple Pay anymore with my new card.

I had this problem. I went to the setting for Apple Pay on my phone and saw "Express Transit" and turned it off. Hopefully this solved the problem.

It may be a charge for a previous ride. It sucks at how they just dump it at once. Cancelling the card only to use a different one will do nothing. It has to do with how payments are processed with OMNY. Only way to avoid is to go back to a metrocard. I just saw 6 of these charges appear. But when I reviewed my last couple of weeks, I notice on many days I only had one MTA charge appear on my statement when I clearly used it twice (to get to work and return home). The “recovery charges” is basically a charge on those keeps that did not immediately get processed.

That is clear cut identity theft, not an issue with the MTA/OMNY. But for the OP and others in NYC they can create an OMNY account with the card being charge. The device number being used appears in the OMNY account. One just needs to see if it matches the one in their apple wallet.

I'm having the same issue! I'm being charged when I haven't left the house in days, or being charged multiple times at random hours for one single ride. I've been in discussion with Apple and they say they can't help or refund me since it's an MTA issue. I've disputed charges with my bank but since then more have happened. I've been charged AFTER removing my credit card from the wallet all together. Not sure what to do at this point but the costs are adding up :(

The "PAYGO RECOVER" charges are generally legit. This is what they do when you tap in and they attempt to charge your financial institution but the charge doesn't go through. So what happens is, the next time you try to tap in -- whether it is that day, the next week, or the next month, or probably even if you hand your device/card to a friend and they try to tap in a moment later -- OMNY will charge a "recover" charge to pay for that previous trip (or trips), then another non-"recover" charge for the current trip.

If you have an online account at omny.info, which can be useful, you should be able to see these on the site, if you go to the "Charges" section (not the "Trips" section, since the Trips section doesn't offer this detail). Here's one on mine:

Note that the trip was Aug 15 but the charge is dated Aug 17. That's because of the "recover".

In contrast, here was a trip from Aug 17 which was charged successfully when the trip was made:

This second one even has a time on it in the smaller white box, presumably because the charge was made when the trip was made.

Here is how OMNY explains this process:

From: OMNY Customer Support <customersupport@OMNY.info>

Sent: Tuesday, September 7, 2021 12:55 PM

Subject: Negative Balance/Debt Collection

Hi ,

Thank you for contacting OMNY. We have reviewed your account and determined that the account is in good standing and an adjustment is not needed.

When a tap occurs, our device will attempt to communicate with your financial institution and essentially ask permission to collect the fare. In most cases this transaction is successful. However, in your case, we were unable to fully process the charge.

There are a host of reasons for this but, in this case, we did not receive authorization from your bank to collect and process the fare. Even though we did not collect, the system allowed you to ride and as a result your account was declared negative.

When this happens, as it did in your case, the next time you tap, the same communication occurs but an attempt is made to first collect on the previously uncollected trip. The charge in question was to recover the previously uncollected fare and clear the negative balance which allows you to continue using the OMNY system.

We apologize for any confusion this may have caused and we are happy to answer any additional questions you may have.

If you have any other questions, please feel free to call us at 877-789-6669.

OMNY Customer Support

© 2019-2020 Metropolitan Transportation Authority. All Rights Reserved. All trademarks, services marks and trade names referenced in this material are the property of their respective owners. OMNY is a service provided by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Also, as one of the other posters has mentioned, there's nothing about this which is specific to Apple Pay as opposed to any other payment device

На сегодняшний день, когда заметил кражу средств с карты, пока только заблокировал банковскую карту. Привязал другую карту к Apple Pay и оставил на карте ноль рублей, чтобы получать уведомления о неуспешной попытке списания, чтобы не списывали самовольно. Ещё раз убедился, что "Express Transit Card" выключен, сделал скрины на всякий случай. Направил в OMNY жалобу, с просьбой вернуть украденные средства. Ответа от них пока не поступало, скорее всего придется дополнительно обращаться по контактам из письма (скрин приложил). За последние 6-7 часов пока никаких списаний с новой карты не было, продолжаю отслеживать.

Да, и в истории списаний я нашел ещё два платежа по $2.75, что осуществлялись в ночь с пятницы на субботу. В итоге, у меня оказалось 4 платежа.

А у вас как обстоят дела?

Я заблокировала карту, жду перевыпуск, оповещения приходят все равно на сбер онлай, но уже о отказе , деньги Сбербанк не возвращает , у Apple тоже бесполезно, привязывать карту стремно! У меня только тут была привязка и яндекс такси !

I figured out that it was my Apple Watch that activated it (well I think so because the transit option was on). I called Omny and they are going to refund my

money and I turned off the transit option on my phone and watch so I think I should be good.

As noted above, if it's fraud (which it was in my case to the tune of about $130), just contact your credit card company and report all the fraudulent charges. I doubt it is MTA who is responsible but some hackers who are siphoning off the funds.

It’s 100% MTAs fault. They even admitted it on the phone. Maybe it’s some technical glitch. But I’ll tell you this, until I went And literally blocked this merchant on my credit card, they kept charging me. Disputing doesn’t solve it. You have to block them. What a disappointment... I was so excited not having to use my metro card, but got scammed!!

За 4 дня было совершено 9 платежей по 2,75$. Сегодня когда проверял историю платежей увидел это, пока только карту заблокировал. Завтра пойду в банк разбираться и сейчас написал письмо о возврате средств.