CUPERTINO, Calif. (3/9/15)--A wave of fraudulent transactions has hit Apple Pay recently, as fraudsters have been entering stolen credit and debit card data into Apple's new mobile-payment system and making purchases illegally (The Wall Street Journal March 5).

Much of the payment data being used was stolen during recent massive data breaches, including those to hit Home Depot and Target. Those breaches alone cost credit unions nearly $60 million in breach-related costs, according to CUNA.

Roughly 80% of the purchases made with the stolen data have been big-ticket items at Apple's own stores, as Apple stores have Apply Pay activated and the resale value for those items is very high, according to The Journal.

Part of the issue has stemmed from lax verification procedures, but regardless of who's at fault, the frequency of fraudulent activity using Apple Pay has certainly grown, The Journal said.

Roughly 6% of Apple Pay transactions are fraudulent, while only 0.1% of traditional credit and debit card transactions are fraudulent.

While Apple Pay was billed as an extremely secure form of payment, the fact that it's still vulnerable because of stolen data confirms CUNA's position that, until merchants are held to the same strict payment data security standards as financial institutions, the payments network will never be entirely secure.

CUNA continues to press lawmakers to pass legislation that would ramp up data security requirements for retailers.