China’s two largest mobile payment service providers said today that customer funds have been taken by hackers using stolen Apple Inc. account details and that the computing giant so far has failed to act on the matter.

The first accusation came from Ant Financial Services Group’s Alipay, which according to Reuters took to social media to warn users who have linked their accounts using Apple IDs. “Alipay has contacted Apple many times … and the issue has not been resolved,” the warning said.

Users with linked accounts were warned to lower transaction limits until the issue is resolved.

Competitor Tencent Holdings Ltd. also said its customers had been affected by the same issue and that they were “actively communicating with Apple to better understand how it’s resolving the situation.”

With both companies, some users are reported to have lost up to 2,000 yuan ($288) each, although it’s not clear how many users have been affected. Apple is said to be planning to refund any money that was fraudulently spent.

The big unknown in the story is how the attackers managed to obtain the Apple IDs. Reports in March noted that Apple ID logins were for sale on the darknet, the shady corner of the internet reachable only with special software. But they weren’t cheap, with a single IDs offered for $15 each.

The other odd part is that Alipay went public to begin with. As The Verge noted, “it’s unusual to see large tech companies calling one another out like this, particularly over an issue that may not be exclusive to Apple.”

Alipay is said to have since removed the social media post calling out Apple but the fact that it felt the need to do so raises questions about the extent of the problem and Apple’s inaction in dealing with it to date.

Photo: N509FZ/Wikimedia Commons