Someone stole my debit card number and chareged $870 worth of itunes. I can not get any help from Apple or Itunes. My bank is doing what it can, but why can't Apple help? Any suggestions?
I was also a recent victim, fortunately only a handful of apps downloaded for a total of £3, including, strangely, some free apps.
Anyway, it's spooked me enough to decide not to purchase any longer from the iTunes Store and, if I can't get content safely from there, abandon plans to upgrade my 1st Gen iPod Touch to an iPad or a new iPod Touch or an iPhone.
With this thread so long and reports of accounts being compromised elsewhere here and on the Internet, I'm surprised this story hasn't been picked up more by the mainstream tech press.
Thuat Nguyen also charged 4 invoices on my credit card on 7/3/10. Each invoice was for $44.91 and appeared to be in Vietnamese or Filipino. I waited 20 minutes for iTunes Customer Support on the phone to which they replied, we have no phone support. I asked to speak to their supervisor and they would not. They accept no responsbility for the fraudulent charges on my credit card, address and personal information being used. I called my bank (BofA, who also said to call iTunes) and ultimately had to cancel my credit card. BofA will reverse the charges, but I can only dispute the charges by calling BofA again in 7-10 days to allow time to post. Because iTunes has my credit card on file and I use Apple apps for my iPhone, iPad and PC/laptops, I am very concerned and upset about their lack of support and the security on their sites. It is almost impossible to find a phone number for Apple and get a Customer Service Rep on the line. How about providing some Customer Support for the millions of customers that are making you so darn profitable.
I have had problems with unauthorized charges to my account for 6 months. Apple refuses to discuss it with its own customers. So the charges get reversed and the credit card company loses money. Heck of a way to do business. Best way to avoid this is to get a Blackberry.
I'm sure people have posted this before but the chances are that you have not been 'hacked'. There is not a team of highly trained bespectacled individuals sitting in a basement somewhere trying to 'hack' into your account details - you are not that important. And even if there were, which there aren't, the last thing they are going to do if they've just spent hours 'hacking' your account is buy things from the iTunes Store.
Here are some useful tips to avoid crying hacker.
1: Are you using a PC? If yes then you've probably been 'keylogged' not hacked, Google it, find out what it is and get some decent malware remover - or buy a Mac. If you're being keylogged then changing your password won't help you as they will be watching every key y o u p r e s s.
2: Do you have kids? So what have these 'hackers' been buying, Haypi Kingdom / FarmVille credits? Really? Where do you leave your handbag these days, on the sideboard is it, half open, with a purse on the top? Little Malcolm may find that very tempting if his birthday is 6 months away! "But, but I asked him and he said 'No, it wasn't me'" You do realise that to a child online gaming is like crack? Don't believe me, take their machine away for a night and watch what happens.
3: Your passwords are rubbish. Yes I know life is complicated but must you use the same password for every login you use online. Your bank, eBay, Amazon if you're using the same password and someone does have it then your ID is their ID. Also, using your partner's name/birthday or your kids' names/birthdays is not secure; You are not the only person in the world that does this. If someone guesses your login details and buys something from the iTunes Store that's not Apple's fault it's yours for having a terrible password. Check this out: If I was to start randomly entering things like star:wars Darth:Vader Spongebob:Squarepants as a username/password would I be getting close to what you are using right now?
4: Human check-out staff. Ask yourself this, who is more likely to get hold of your credit card details:
a: Keanu Reeves and his band of leather clad cyberpunks working feverishly into the night, drinking red-bull and trying to break the 128-bit encryption on secure websites, or
b: The person on the till in the supermarket/petrol station who you 'physically hand your card over to'. It's not that difficult to remember a 16 digit number.
5: Use a credit card rather than a debit card. If you do get your card used by unauthorised persons then your credit card provider should cover you for this. Remember, someone in your house using your card without you knowing doesn't count as fraud.
6: Was it actually you? We've all regretted an impulse purchase but saying you got 'hacked' and you want your money back is just dishonest.
In summary 'hacked' very very very unlikely, 'keylogged' most likely, your password just guessed or someone you know used your card - possibly.
1. I'm using a Mac.
2. I don't have kids.
3. My passwords have always been obscure foreign words with a mixture of letters, numbers and symbols. Same for the answers to my "secret questions".
4. I have been working abroad for the past year and haven't physically used my credit card in a store during this time.
5. I'm using a credit card, not a debit card.
6. I am not lying just to cover up an impulse purchase I later regretted.
So, explain now why my account was compromised and unauthorised purchases made, Mr. Spongebob:Smartypants? Seriously, your post smacks of such unbelievable arrogance and ignorance that you should feel ashamed. I can only assume that you have not experienced this fraud we are discussing here.
Fact is, I took all the necessary precautions (your assumption that the victims are largely to blame is insulting) and still had my account compromised.
Yep same thing today over 150 in charges. Obviously not mine as they are in chinese. I contatced my bank who stated that since May of this year they have noticed this issue and have tried to resolve the problem with Apple. They also have sent out a notice and personaly advised me to close out all of our Itunes accounts immediately since Apple is unable to get control of this fraud problem. After spending an hour and a half waiting for Apples customer service I was told they cannot close the accounts as Itunes is handled all online but they would try to have someone contact me within 24 hours.
Pandora just gained 4 new customers while Apple lost four. Wonder when they might realize they have a problem instead of just saying, "
Although Apple boosted the frequency of CCV requests at iTunes in response, the company denies that iTunes servers were hacked."
Oh I should also state I changed my password today numerous times and after each change another purchase was attempted. Each purchase was voided out by my bank and now I have a long list of foreign purchases waiting for a credit card to bill them to. No I was not hacked.. sorry but I am not buying that at all. Apple knows they have this problem and it has been going on for months. It is cheaper for them to ignore it in hopes we quietly pay for the purchases rather then actually admitted it. If you google you will see numerous articles written about this issue that Apple continues to state is not a problem.
I suspect that the hackers who have a batch of stolen credit card numbers, are actually only "testing" the validity of your credit card number before they sell it. A list of credit card numbers wouldn't be worth anything unless it was validated first. iTunes is the perfect way to validate stolen c/c numbers. Many people have lots of small iTunes purchases anyway so one more doesn't get picked up easily when you look at your bank statement. (Why would fraudsters waste their time buying music or a $1 iPad app?)
If you do have a suspect iTunes purchase, even of low value, cancel your credit card immediately as there could be a larger purchase imminent.
I think it's quite possible that PC's have been affected by spyware which have forwarded your credit card details to the crooks.
Our bank has a credit card fraud department and systems in place to actively monitor suspected fraudulent purchases and to block further transactions until validated by the card holder. We were contacted immediately by the bank as soon as they picked up the possible fraudulent transaction. Many other banks have similar processes, so I suggest that you try to find a bank with similar policies and services and only use credit cards from these banks.
The main clue that a transaction is fraudulent is that most are from overseas, including purchases from overseas iTunes stores. That's probably why Apple and police don't bother taking action. It's pretty hard to pursue criminals overseas.
+6. I am not lying just to cover up an impulse purchase I later regretted.+
geyien, I realize this is an older post, but I just saw it. Sorry to hear Apple got hacked and it caused you grief.
I thought your point #6 was hilarious, though. I hadn't even thought of that! I don't think any of the folks in this thread are doing that, either.
I was new to itunes and created an account with them. Afterwards, realize my money was stolen by some fraud who pretended to be itunes. Called Apple, they did nothing. Cancelled my card. Stupid Apple!! Doesn't care to protect their customers and fix itunes! I'm going to ask the orange county register and the LA Times to report about this situation!
At the end of June I had over $3500(aud) of apps etc charged to my credit card through the Sydney iTunes store. Only receiving the receipts informed me. I cancelled credit card within two days. Disabled my iTunes account and it took 2 months to get a refund. The card was not used outside of itunes. The issue is with iTunes itself. Either their system credits the wrong account with others purchases or someone has hacked their system. I have heard it is the apps developers making money from us users. The thing I found is that there were many duplicates of the same app or product purchased. How many copies does one want to purchase of an app? I will not use iTunes again via an account. I will by a card.
The most annoying thing was the platitudes and lack of answers to my questions. Shame on Apple for poor service and support!
I just unchecked the credit card payment option in iTunes after several transactions as a result of Farmville Cash spam popups offered to my kids. What do kids do when the see an "OK" button... they click it of course. KaChing.
UNCHECK THE CREDIT CARD PAYMENT OPTION ASAP and only deal with iTunes Cards.
Also 2 friends have recently had bogus attempts on their credit cards of $600 and $500. Luckily in Australia banks warn customers of dodgy transaction before they allow them. Both received phone calls instantly and the transaction was stopped.
I was a little lucky. I had already small fraud charge on just couple of bucks. So I have removed my amex credit card and did charge back.
But today I found that my account was used to purchase $50 itunes gift card. This was not my credit card. I suspect someone else credit card was stolen and used under my name. I have contacted itunes and they suggested to change password. But they did not tell me how to mark this transaction as fraud. It looks like they do not care.
