Is a viral video of a girl crying in front of the camera because she didn't realize Apple Pay used "real American Dollars from your credit card" and not "Apple Dollars" real? No, that's not true: The video was a skit by comedian Tina Vlamis. Her TikTok channel features several other, similar comedy videos.
The video (archived here) was published on TikTok on August 28, 2025 but went viral when people reposted it on other social media platforms. The original description read:
like guys am i so COOKED 😭😭 young ppl this is crazy watch out my gen-zers this is like lowkey sneaky i feel...how was i supposed to know????? i have to figure this all out now ughhhhhh ihml deadass
@itstinacolada like guys am i so COOKED 😭😭 young ppl this is crazy watch out my gen-zers this is like lowkey sneaky i feel...how was i supposed to know????? i have to figure this all out now ughhhhhh ihml deadass
♬ original sound - tina colada
In the video, according to an automated transcript the girl can be heard saying:
If you use Apple Pay, honestly, just be so careful. Um, this is a little embarrassing to admit, but if this could help one person then I'm really willing to share what my experience was. Um I'm just going to lay it out like this. When you use Apple Pay, that's real money. That's true American dollars from your credit card. If you If you have your credit card connected, that's where the money is being sourced from. It's not like a special form of Apple Pay Apple dollars.
Why they don't just say this is real money while you're paying? I don't know. Cuz I thought that I had accumulated a bunch of Apple dollars uh to use for Apple Pay by, you know, spending so much time on my phone, uh giving my data very freely and willingly to any place that asks. Like whatever they say, are cookies okay? I say, yes, yes, yes. Because I thought that's how I was getting prizes, getting rewards, getting Apple dollars. So, I didn't think that was real money till I checked my credit card bill.
I... I've been spending money like I'm a freaking millionaire. I... I got hair moves. I've straight hair. My hair doesn't even hold moves. I call Apple to straighten things out. I hope that I please speak with Mr. Steve Jobs. They go, "He's no longer with us." Uh.
This is what the opening frame of the video looked like:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Sat Aug 30 08:54:33 2025 UTC)
The @itstinacolada profile (archived here) it was posted on features dozens of similar videos of actress/comedian Tina Vlamis (archived here):
(Image source: screenshot of @itstinacolada account on TikTok)
