itunes credit card fraud

Hi all.

In relation to my situation (as above), I emailed iTunes support iTunesStoreSupport@apple.com and iTunes acknowledged that I DID NOT make the purchases. Below is my correspondence with a consultant:

Me: I have 3 unauthorised purchases in my bank account from the "Apple iTunes Store Sydney" for the ##/## in the total amount of $117.40. These amounts do not appear in iTunes >> Account >> Purchase History. I have one computer (running windows 7) authorised to make purchases and currently have active one device (iPhone 4s). I have since cancelled my credit card as advised by my bank. Please investigate this issue.

iTunes Support: Thank you for writing to iTunes Store Customer Support. My name is #### and I'm glad to help you today.

I understand that you are concerned about the purchases made on your account without your knowledge. I know how eager you must be to get this taken cared of. It is my sincere intention to help you with this.

######, to prevent further purchasing, I have disabled your account "myaccount@XYZ.com" and have disallowed the credit card from being used on the iTunes Store. Please note that you can enable your iTunes Store account in the future simply by replying to this email and asking for your account to be reenabled.

I carefully reviewed your account and I determined that you have another iTunes Store account who uses the same credit card. Account ID is "FakeAccount@XYZ.com".

Etc etc...

Me:

Thank you for the prompt reply.

The other iTunes Store Account ID "FakeAccount@XYZ.com" that you mentioned using the same credit card is NOT an account I own or have authorised. Due to this fact, I am unable to access this particular account history to advise of the order numbers for the specific unauthorised transactions. My bank statement identifies three (3) transactions were made on the ##/## in the amounts of: $XXX

As advised, I have removed my credit card details from my iTunes account (myaccount@XYZ.com) and changed the account password. As mentioned previously in my initial email, I have contacted my credit card provider and cancelled my card from being used. As I do not have access to the fraudulent account ID FakeAccount@XYZ.com, I will be unable

to close that account.

iTunes Support: Thank you for writing back.

I'm sorry to hear there were unauthorized purchases made using your credit card on another iTunes Store account. I know how important it is for you to get this issue resolved and we will work toward fixing this situation for you.

#######, I reviewed further the account "FakeAccount@XYZ.com" and determined that the purchases were on this account.

The decision to issue a refund was made after a careful review of your case. Please note that this refund is an exception to the iTunes Store Terms and Conditions, which state that all sales are final. A refund in the total amount of $118.39 has been issued to your financial institution. Refund processing times vary depending on your financial institution and can normally take from 7 to 10 business days. Please contact your financial institution for details related to processing times.

These emails were communicated within 2 days of each other and recently, my bank account has been credited the $118.39 from iTunes. Whether or not everyone here has the exact same situation, i could not tell you if the result will be the same. At least you know theres a chance. Overall i found them to be responsive to my emails (positive) but obviously theres a security flaw within iTunes that needs to be addressed. (negative).

so I shall go ahead and contact my bank about the billing problem?😐 What if the hackers keep hacking my account later on? doesnt apple has anything to do with it, any responsibily at all?

Add me to the list. I just found out that I have 53 unauthorized charges, all of them for exactly the same amount that totals 4,400 dlls which do not appear in my iTunes account. I immediately contacted my bank, cancelled the credit card and mailed iTunes support. I really hope I can get the same response as saifulfromhunting dale....

For the record, I live in Mexico City and all the unauthorized charges were made in the iTunes Store USA. There's something seriously wrong here.

I am another victim to the credit card fraud related to itunes. I got a new iphone4s for christmas present. I opened my present week before christmas. By christmas eve I was checking out itunes. I don't even recall buying anything from itunes. All I remember is I just went in itunes to check it out by clicking it from my iphone. I got a call from my credit union fraud division who told me that they have monitored a purchase in itunes where the transaction originated from china. They asked me it is a legitimate purchase. I was very surprised. How did they get my credit card details? I have been using my iphone 4s to access my credit union account. This is really scary! Now my credit card is frozen and I am waiting for my new credit card to arrive. I can't believe this. I thought iphone is supposed to be safe. Just a little over a week and I get this credit card problems!

This JUST happened to me today! I had 5 gift cards of $20 purchased from my account. I contacted paypal and they say that they are investigating. I only had $4 and some change in my paypal account so they were transferring the rest of the money from my debit card, which only has $26 in it. So far the charges aren't in my bank account yet, but I'll be in the red when they do appear.

I never knew anything like this was happening until it happened to me today. It's very upsetting the Apple hasn't taken any measures to prevent things like this from happening.

I've had my I pad for 2days and had a phone message from my bank's fraud support this morning! 4 different charges in 2different amounts! They cancelled my card but I'm still trying to figure out how to change my billing info in iTunes. It will not let me erase my current card or change to a gift card. Any suggestions? I can't believe this is happening so often and nothing's being done about it!

I had my debt card number taken and who ever it was that took it racked up 350.00 on a the account. There aught to be a way that people that steal from others could be found and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. They should have to pay every penny back and apple should be held responsible for not checking to see if the person that called them was actually the one that held that card number.You can't get a hold of apple to even find any information out. I wonder if it isn't someone in the company itself that has stolen the information. They would have accsess to the information.

George

I got hit tonight for over 200.00 Went to my email saw the purchaes then the emails went to my trash boom! I'll call cc company tomorrow

gospelsinger wrote:

I had my debt card number taken and who ever it was that took it racked up 350.00 on a the account

No, your debit card number was not taken. Your iTunes account was compromised. No one can view the entire credit card number when viewing the iTunes account info. All anyone (including you) can see is the last four digits of the CC.

I wonder if it isn't someone in the company itself that has stolen the information. They would have accsess to the information.

No they wouldn't. It is all encrypted.

Got a call from my bank a couple of days ago. They wanted me to verify a $62 charge from iTunes China. The credit card that was used is not the credit card that is linked to my iTunes account, or a card I have ever used on the web. I only use this card about 10 times a year, coincidently just 2 days prior at an Outback restaurant. The bank has since cancelled my card number and they are sending me a new card. So, many people on this forum think that hackers have gotten your credit card number from iTunes. It may be a coincidence and the number was compromised somewhere else. I have, however, done what others have recommended. I removed all credit card info from my iTunes account, purchased an iTunes gift card, and now use an account balance to make purchases.

I just found out today that I have also been a victim of this through Paypal. Luckily, they are investigating since Apple doesn't even give a phone number for this problem. THANK GOODNESS I HAD PAYPAL SET UP.

I was charged for 2 $20 gift certificates. I don't understand how they can track how many computers we put these songs on, but can't tell me where they sent my $40.00? Really?

This sounds just too common and they MUST know there is a problem and just don't care.

It might be time to throw away the whole Apple basket. One bad apple IS spoiling the whole bunch.

Same thing, via PayPal - two "gifts" totalling $50.00 at 0430 PST today. Like everyone else, can't speak to anyone at Apple.

PayPal characterizes the transactions as "purchase agreements", but can't explain how iTunes can access my PayPal account without my PayPal password. Since I have never authorized iTunes to do so, I have sent them an email inquiring how this is possible. In the meantime, PayPal has initiated an investigation of their own.

Based on my readings of the postings here, I don't anticipate much help.

Good luck to all....

I was Hit Today by 2 Gift Cards for $20 Each - i found out by my Paypal email saying it paid them, I first checked I-Tunes and they did not show now this afternoon they are there, I reported too Paypal, Changed my PW for itunes and tried to report a problem on the gift card i never ordered or even wanted.. NOw what can i do ? if the two Gift Cards pass thru and hit my bank its like $i0 dollars in fees. and yea i know there is no way I-Tunes will ever pay them.. for their own stupidity in allowing this crapp to happen in the first palce

I got hacked and my password changed but i got it back and changed it thank god my cards are okay, but all my £31 store credit is gone in this game ive never heard of what can i do, who can i contact, where does this leave me :/

callumtodd wrote:

what can i do, who can i contact, where does this leave me :/

You can contact iTunes support, as noted numerous times in this thread.