When the clerk asks for the last 4...

From the horse's mouth:

"Some merchants, depending on the source card providing payment and terminal types, require additional information (in the case of Apple Pay, the Device Account Number, or DAN) for a transaction to process, similar to having to provide a PIN for a debit transaction or a CVV for a credit transaction. As we are getting closer to the holidays, many stores who don’t normally require it are activating this extra transaction security as well."

This article provides more information about Apple Pay, including how to find your DAN (under the section about returns): About Apple Pay for merchants in Australia, Canada, and the US - Apple Support

"To see the last four or five digits of the Device Account Number, ask the customer to go to Wallet, tap the card, and tap on the lower-right corner of the display."

Are you giving them the last four digits of your actual Cr Card Number ...or are you giving them the last four digits of your iPhone's U

nique Device ID Number? I have never run into the problem when I have used Apple Pay. I know that some Retailers are requesting their store clerk to record the Code number from the front of a Credit Card, while others are asking their store clerk to record the last three digits of the verification number from the back of a card. Still other Retailers are asking their store clerks to ensure the Cr Card is signed by the Customer. Again, when I have used Apple Pay thus far I have not been asked for any additional information. In any case, the Unique Device ID Number can be found by going to your iPhone's PassBook App and on the screen showing your Cr Card click on the "i" and then scroll down until your see your Unique Device ID Number ...then try giving those four digits and see if the transaction goes through. In the transaction receipts that I have from Apple Pay transactions, that Unique Device ID Number is what is printed (last four digits) where on non-Apple Pay transactions your would have seen the last four digits of your Credit Card Number.

I have only used Apple Pay at Walgreens. There the clerk asked for the last 4 digits of my phone number. I asked why and was told they wanted to make sure it was really me. So I guess a fingerprint is not as good as knowing a phone number

If this is the future of the program, I don't think it can grow. If holding the device and swiping a fingerprint isn't enough security it just becomes inconvenient. I suspect that the stores are looking for a way to gather marketing information that is not available through Apple

I don't know that your experience is a typical Walgreen's policy in that they did not ask for any additional information when I first used Apple Pay there. Walgreens was already using their NFC device prior to the release of Apple Pay so it is possible that what you had to provide was a practice in=place for other forms of Payment using the NFC device.

How does giving your last 4 phone number do anything since all Walgreens knows about you is a random token number unidentifiable to you or your CC? Do you give Walgreens your name or some other info so they can identify you?

The person you are responding to says what they are asked for: the last 4 digits of their credit card. If one is required to dig down, as you advise, after going to another screen to retrieve still a different number, then apple pay has crossed into impending FAIL territory. I would rather just slide my actual credit card, than be searching out or needing to remember a UNIQUE DEVICE ID NUMBER (you must be joking!). I also experienced this request for the last four digits at Staples. Dumb. Tried at Macy's soon after the Staples transaction, phone connected to the point of sale, then said "DONE". That's all. No muss, no fuss. That's how it should work-not fishing out a UNIQUE DEVICE ID NUMBER!!!. Really, now.

Exactly why would I want to give any other information when the app is supposed to be fast like Tim Cook demonstrated at the Keynote. If I have to give a 4 digit code, I can swipe my card and do it myself.

FYI for any out there that ONLY see "...xxx" only THREE numbers showing, and not FOUR, in case they ask you for four account numbers- I found out I only saw 3 due to my SETTINGS/DISPLAY & BRIGHTNESS/TEXT SIZE <--I had enlarged the text, thus it only showed 3 numbers! So now I have to either decrease text size all the time (and my older eyes don't like this), or try to remember to decrease the size before using Apple Pay 😟

I just encountered the same issue at Acme Supermarkets.

The clerk asked me for the last four digits of my credit card and I refused. Then they asked me for the last four digits of my device.

According to the store manager, they updated their system last week and now they must request this code. I had no idea what they meant until I read your answer here. Initially, I thought they meant the last four digits of my phone number.

With all of the authentication required with my Apple Watch and iPhone 6s, I fail to understand why those 4 digits would add anything to the security of the transaction.

Not thrilled about this development at all. I had used Apple Pay with my Apple Watch at the same store for months without this hassle. Now I have to remember this magical 4-digit code in case some retailer wants to use it? Sounds like humbuggery to me.

Same problem here with Shaw's Supermarkets in New England. The clerk asked to see my card, rolled it over in her hand a few times. Made me think she was stealing my security code. Then asked the last four digits of my phone number, this failed, of course. Called a manger over who had no clue what four digit number to use. I took my debit card back and just swiped it as the line of grumpy cash and check payers was starting to lengthen. Decided if I had to go back to swiping a card I could goto the Market Basket a half block down the street which has a broader selection. I came to Shaw's because of Apple Pay.

Anyway, thanks for the tip about our digit device code. Will try one more time, but jeez, it's a thumbprint on my phone. If someone had my phone and hacked it to bypass the biometric input, I really doubt they would have any problem finding the device code which is not passcode protected.

Will Gilbert wrote:

The Apple Watch needs its paired iPhone to complete an ApplePay transaction.

This is incorrect.

Once Apple Pay has been set up on Apple Watch (via the Watch app on the paired iPhone), the watch can be used entirely independently to make payments using Apple Pay. The paired iPhone does not need, for example, to be connected to the watch via Bluetooth, physically nearby or turned on.

Just so everyone understands what is going on. People have been downloading stolen credit card numbers and putting them on the magnetic strip on the back of credit cards or gift cards for a couple of years now. It has become so frequent that this is the additional security they have come up with to stop all of the charge backs the stores are incurring. I don't know why they included Apple Pay, but they did. I think you'll be encountering more of this as time goes by.