Starbucks has denied reports that cyber-criminals are using the coffee chain’s mobile payments app to siphon money from its customers.

The announcement follows multiple media reports that intruders have hijacked the accounts of hundreds of the coffee chain’s customers, siphoned off the value stored on the smartphones, and then used the auto-reload function to steal debit and credit card information.

Reports from CNN and others, suggested that criminals are hijacking consumers coffee accounts, draining the stored value of their cards, and then using Starbucks’ auto-reload function to hack associated debit and credit cards.

“Starbucks takes the obligation to protect customers’ information seriously. News reports that the Starbucks mobile app has been hacked are false,” the company said in a statement on Wednesday. It has also said that the problems are likely to have been caused by weak customer passwords.

Jet.com has raised $220 million so far for an ecommerce service with around 1,600 retail partners, and plans to sell some 10 million products when it launches in the coming weeks.

While its retail site is not yet available to the public, many are already touting Jet.com as a potential alternative to Amazon.

The startup will charge $49 a year for membership to allow consumers to get “the lowest price on anything they buy online,” according to a Jet spokesman. With Jet.com in its beta testing phase, a number of media reports suggest that its prices on goods ranging from electronics to household products are lower than those of Amazon.

Jet will use dynamic pricing which can change with the number of items placed in a basket. This is done by a team of engineers who are said to be constantly recalculating which seller can send that entire order to you most efficiently and cheaply.

Jet is led by Marc Lore, a founder of online retailer Quidsi — including diapers.com and soap.com — sold to Amazon in 2011 for $545 million.

Some analysts believe it may be difficult to compete with Amazon, which sells not only physical goods but connects with customers though ebooks, music, video and other services which won’t be available on Jet.com

LAST CHANCE FOR EARLY BIRD TICKETS TO INTERACT LONDON

On 20 - 21October 2015, Interact London will be descending on the beautiful settings of The British Museum for two days of cutting edge talks from some of the leading thinkers in the UX, IA and Design world. Among the names confirmed so far are the great minds of Anjan Chatterjee, Todd Wilkens, and Steve Portigal. All of the confirmed speakers can be seen here and they will be unveiling lots more in the coming weeks so make sure you keep an eye on Interact London’s twitter for regular updates.

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