itunes credit card fraud

I had these bogus In App Purchase charges from "Seller: C2Call GmbH" as well. I canceled my credit card immediately, but now there's a remaining balance on my itunes account.

Itunes customer support is worthless. I exchanged emails with them regarding the charges hoping, at the least, they would say they're looking into how the charges occurred. Instead they sent me a link to their online Privacy Policy, said they take security "very seriously", and then accused me of having a weak password. Very frustrating. I'm never trusting my CC info with Apple again.

I was a victim of this scam as well. How do I know this is a hacker? How do I know it's not Apple since they have made no attempt to remedy this situation. My identity was NOT stolen. APPLE ITUNES is to blame. How do I know it's not an employee of Apple or simply a billing discrepancy. What is the IP Address of the person who accessed my account? This has affected thousands of people and why doesn't Apple care? I'm out for around $560. I've filed a complaint with the BBB and Attorney General of my state. I suggest you all do the same. Don't let this go, this is just too much money in a recession. How can they have such a glib attitude about fraud on their website. I'm furious and I will not let this go.

I'm out for around $560

Why didn't you contact your credit card company and dispute the charges as you agreed to do on your credit card agreement?

I've filed a complaint with the BBB and Attorney General of my state.

Sure hope you files those against your credit card company as they are the ones who authorized the charges to iTunes.

I agree with Chris CA. Your CREDIT CARD COMPANY authorized the charges, and iTunes store posted them. Business as usual.


I think a lot of these folks complaining go to internet cafes and pay their bills and get their CC details stolen from unsecured wireless networks, but I could be wrong. I often am.

I agree with Chris CA. Your CREDIT CARD COMPANY authorized the charges, and iTunes store posted them. Business as usual.




If you found weird charges from Walmart, what would you do?
Run up to your local Walmart and start picketing? And that would get you where, exactly? Nowhere,fast. You'd have to go to your CREDIT CARD COMPANY.



Either someone hacked Apple's database, the credit card company's database, or your internet connection. The only thing that matters is, your CREDIT CARD COMPANY approved the charge. Take this dogfight up with them.

I guess Katrina and David must work at Apple. First of all, I did take it up with my bank. This is actually from a debit card. So, my checking account is now in the red. Secondly, I worked in retail before and the corporations I worked for were very proactive about identity theft. As a cashier, we checked all the signatures against the credit cards. If someone wrote a check for a huge amount of money, we wrote down their DL number. One time, some crooks forged checks so we called the police and pressed charges. Is Apple doing this? If I had a bad experience at Wal-mart, I would tell all of my friends and I wouldn't shop there anymore.

No, I don't work for Apple! I've also worked retail. And yes, the merchant presses charges for bad checks. If a credit card is approved and it later turns out to be stolen, the credit card company - not the merchant - has to go after the thieves.

Apple won't help unless they're legally required to, or would find it in their best interest, and no they do not care about you. That's the only way I would have it, because that is business. Anything else would shake the foundations of our existence.

Apple won't help unless they're legally required to,

Actually, Apple (as any company would do) won't help unless you *legally prove* you were ripped off and you do that by disputing the charges with your credit card company and/or the police.
You agreed to do that as your legal remedy in your credit card agreement so why not do what you agreed to do?

I don't work for Apple either.

And your analogies are inapplicable to on-line purchases since there's no way to check signatures, get a driver's license number, etc. The iTunes Store collects the same information as any online merchant - credit card number, security number, billing address (which usually has to match exactly that contained on the card account) and requests an authorization from the credit card company for any purchase, and if the card company provides such an authorization, any fraud or other problem legally becomes the problem of the credit card company. The iTunes Store, or any merchant, thereafter is not responsible for any fraudulent purchase and cannot take any action unless and until the entity legally responsible, i.e the card issuer, or a legitimate law enforcement agency, requests such action.

Sorry, but as has been said several times now, your recourse is through your bank/debit card issuer. Apple can do nothing for you.

I can see reading this thread that some of the posters are clearly victims of credit card fraud - they have ended up with purchases also made from other companies in addition to iTunes. The only recourse is to contact the credit card company. Someone also suggested Apple do not monitor account activity. Perhaps the only thing in my favour for my situation is that Apple indeed do seem to monitor account activity.
My iTunes purchasing is random - about 4-5 times a year maybe and only for about $1-10. I made one of my random purchases on the 5/29/2010 for $1.29. However, I later recieved by email 3 receipts from iTunes for about 10 downloads of music and apps for about $48-$50 each and all for the same date with my 1 legitimate purchase listed first. Upon trying to use the "report a problem" link, it would seem Apple was smart enough to shut down my account for security reasons. Since I recieved the receipts, this also indicates to me an iTunes account breach. No other unauthorized transactions have appeared on my credit card.
Certainly I already hear some of you repeating your "CONTACT YOUR CREDIT CARD COMPANY" mantra, and I certainly have, however I too have worked in retail and the banking industry and often the CC company will recommend trying to work it out with the merchant first. It's in the merchant's best interests to do so. Not only is it better for customer service, if the CC company deem the transactions fraud, not only is a chargeback made against the purchase, the merchant is also charged an additional $30 per chargeback. In my case, Apple will be out of pocket $90 for 3 seperate transactions. Clearlky profits don't matter to Apple these days.
It saddens me to think Apple won't bother to look into my case (or anyone else's). My download history and subsequent recent over-activity triggering an account shut down clearly show something wrong. I've checked my mac for viruses in case someone was able to send/install some code that allowed them to hack my account if at anytime I used a password. All I would like is Apple to show a little concern for some of their customers, assess their system for improved account security or show they are still human somehow behind the electronic user interface.

I was just hit this morning for over $200 in unauthorized charges from iTunes on my Visa debit card. Just opened the iTunes account 2 weeks ago when I got my iPhone and have only bought one song for $1.35. Canceled my debit card and now I have to wait and see what the bank refunds me. If this is such an issue for iTunes, why doesn't a company of this size look at whats wrong with their IT security???? I called iTunes this morning and they were useless, just as everyone else has said.

Woke up this morning to find 45 purchases of FriendCaller 3 Pro Call Minutes from C2Call of $29.99 each as well as an initial purchase of $1.99 for a friendPaper app. The total damage? $1,351.54

Considering I've only made a couple small purchases in the last four years, I would have expected the transactions to be questioned before funds ran out causing them to halt.

The purchases were first deducted from a stored gift card with about a $30 balance, the rest came out of a checking account then overdraft protection via a stored check card. In fact, a purchase was made after all funds were depleted and iTunes shows a $29.99 balance due they want me to pay.

I've disputed the charges through my bank but Apple says they hold no liability for the gift card balance and the remaining $29.99 is being sent to 'escalations'.

It's a bummer that iTunes requires you store a method of payment in order to provide album artwork but provides only 'moderate protection' and 'provides no guarantee or holds any liability that your account won't be hacked' (taken from the iTunes terms of agreement).

I'm curious if someone hacked my iPhone as it prompts for an iTunes password at random times, even when not using the App store. I thought maybe Apple had made a change so that your password is stored so you can one-click purchase without much thought but according to a rep I spoke with, it should only ask for your password when you make a purchase. I synced my phone to iTunes for the first time last night and then the account was hacked. Seems too coincidental.

While I don't hold Apple responsible for the charges, I'll take it up with my bank, I would have appreciated an easier method of contact to report the fraud and a little more of a sympathetic tone. Having to contact an unrelated department and having them IM the iTunes folks was ridiculous and made an unpleasant experience even worse.

It's a bummer that iTunes requires you store a method of payment in order to provide album artwork

It's not required to store a method of payment.
Once you create an account with a CC, you can immediately remove all payment info.
I do not leave my CC info in iTunes. If I want to make a purchase, I add it, make the purchase then immediately remove it.

Oh, nice. The way iTunes fixed the negative $29.99 balance in my account? 13 hours after the initial fraud and 10 hours after my report to Apple and my bank, they charged the $29.99 to my account again. I'm not sure how this is possible since the card was closed but the negative iTunes balance I had is gone and $29.99 of a deposit I made into my bank is too. Now I have to go back to the bank tomorrow morning and add that to my affidavit.