A RESIDENT surnamed Lai found that 1,758.42 yuan (US$254) had been deducted from his Alipay account during the National Day holiday. The app showed that the consumption was generated by the car-hailing app Uber in the United States.

However, Lai had never been to the United States and had uninstalled the Uber app from his mobile phone two years ago. On Oct. 12, Lai got a refund from Alipay, one of the major mobile payment service providers in China, sznews.com reported.

Sznews.com received the latest reply from Alipay on Tuesday. According to the staffer, Uber is responsible for providing information as to whether Lai’s account had been stolen.

“We confirm that there is no abnormality in Alipay and have arranged the refund in light of the existing process and user experience of Alipay and Uber. However, this case is not a reference for iPhone users,” the staffer was quoted as saying.

Regarding how to avoid similar situations for Alipay users, the staffer responded that such a case was mainly related to the user’s habits and safety awareness. However, Alipay is not able to gain full knowledge of the situation regarding some other apps.

(Zhang Yu)