itunes account hacked

This happened to me also! I recommend purchasing itunes gift cards and loading them onto your account in increments of 10 or 25 dollars. It may seem tedious, but it might save you a few hundred dollars and several hour- long phone calls to unhelpful companies. I did this, and when my account was hacked, the thief was only able to use about 9$. Still upsetting, but it felt good to know that they wasted their time for a few bucks.

Everyone who has said that this is 100% Apple's fault is being childish.

I just had $1010.47 in iTunes Store purchases (mostly in $59 increments) charged today against my debit card. I immediately changed my iTunes password, then called my bank (fortunately, the bank's fraud dept. is open 24/7).

The guy from the bank (who should be trying to shirk responsibility, and put the blame on Apple) said that it was actually unlikely that the iTunes account was hacked; but rather, that someone stole my CC info from another merchant, and then used that info to set up ANOTHER iTunes account using my CC info. They apparently did this in Luxemborg (I live in the US), which is probably why the system didn't catch a dup CC. And since there are plenty of LEGIT reasons why multiple iTunes accounts would be billed to the same CC (corporations, families, etc), I would imagine that EVERY merchant allows multiple accounts to be attached to a single CC number.

So, the FIRST place to start is your bank or CC company. THOSE are the people with the Fraud Protection. Bottom line: My bank account will be credited for every single penny, and the bank is FedEx-ing me a new Debit card. After that, it's up to whoever underwrites their Fraud insurance.

Don't lay it on the merchant. The bank will call Apple themselves and try to get the money back (I assume). Make your bank/CC's Fraud Protection do the dirty work. In fact, in my case, they were surprised that their own anti-Fraud software didn't catch it after a couple of transactions (there were over a dozen, all with today's date). And the proof that it really WASN'T my iTunes account that was "hacked" is that I haven't received a single "receipt" email from Apple. So, no one "hacked" my account. They hacked my CC instead. Now, that may not be the same for everyone; but it IS the same for everyone who doesn't receive confirmation emails for "their" purchases.

Think about it.

I had almost $70 in iTunes gift cards credited to my Apple ID, and today somebody hacked in my account and clean it up completely buying some stupid applications and games.

Apple detects the transaction is happening in a device and location not usualy associated with your account but still lets it go through. I don't understand how is it that they allow this to happen.

I know this things happen all the time but it is really frustrating when it actually happens to you. Now it appears that no credit card is linked with my account when I'm almost certain that I had one linked to this account. Now I don't know if whoever hacked in my account already has the details of my credit card as well.

I'm really angry now and feel like deleting everything online that is related to me, but deep down I know that even if I did that, much of your personal information still lingers around somehow in cyberspace waiting for those who know how to ge it to go and use it against you.

I usually love my digital live very much, but at this very moment, I'm really regreting having one. I just wanted to share my frustration with somebody who may understand.

The same thing happened to me! Same game! I changed my Paypal password and my itunes password and 2 more attempts (blocked by Paypal) have been made to my itunes account! I agree, this is Ridiculous!

See also this thread:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2665383?start=915&tstart=0

I have also been hacked. £16 taken from my account balance for the Kingdom Conquest game. Like everyone else I have never downloaded this game and I was not responsible for the purchases debited from my account. The credit was from a gift card, and it looks like my associated credit card details have been removed from the account.

There is no way that the account details have been compromised by anything I have done. I did get a warning email from Apple, but the transactions were allowed to go ahead. I have deauthorised my devices, changed my password and emailed Apple.

Reading the other posts I am not very confident about getting my money back. If the response from Apple is not to my liking I plan to contact my MP to investigate. I don't think Apple can shrug their shoulders when so many account holders are being defrauded. Apple should be held to account. I suggest that all UK victims of ITunes account hacking contact their local MP too. This may encourage Apple to take some responsible action.

Jacabus,

I got 2 warning emails from them on the 23rd Feb saying Kingdom Conquest has been downloaded to a device not linked to my account and I need to re-set my password. When I went to I tunes the account had been disabled until I reset the password. I then got a bill stating that £17.99 had been taken from the £25.00 voucher I had redeemed a week ago. When I have checked my account my credit is 33p as if other items have been downloaded from it, also my card details where not there, I have since cancelled my card that was on this account and suggest you do the same.

Apple quite conveniently disabled my account and sent 2 emails warning me to change the password but did not do anything to stop the transaction. I too have emailed them, but guess that the money will be lost.

I think something needs to be done and Apple need to take some kind of responsiblity as they know that this is going on otherwise they would not send the emails/disable the account.

There may be hope. I had my credit refunded the day after I reported it to itunes. I have changed my password, but I suspect it is related to gift cards rather than someone hacking the password. They did say it was an exception to get the refund based on my particuar case and they referred me to the itunes t&c's that state all transactions are final. I don't know how a fraudulent transaction can be final...

Your case sounds the same as mine, so you should get your money back too.

Just had my account hacked today and about £33 taken for what I assume are in game apps, problem is it was all in Chinese so I have no idea what was downloaded. Anyway I've emailed apple but from reading this thread it sounds like a common issue and I too don't understand why they emailed the warning, suspended my account but still let the transactions go through, that's bonkers.

What's this bit about CC details disappearing, is it an issue? Mine are gone and I'm sure they were on there before but can't remember as I've always used voucher codes, is this part of the hack or do apple remove them?

I had the same problem with the Chinese in app purchus totalling about $50US. That was all they got becasue it was iTunes gift card credit I have on my account. As soon as I saw the issue I emailed Apple and with in a few hours they wrote back and refunded me my money. All this just in time for the hacker to make another purchuse of $5US. I emailed Apple again and got the $5 credited back to my account. I have changed my password twice in the past 48 hours and plan to change it at least on more time in the next 24 hours and I hope I have security once again in my account.

But here is where the problem came from---http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/kings-empire/id484039314?mt=8 DO NOT DOWNLOAD ANY "Tap4Fun" APPS!!!! It was free but it accessed account information and made purchuses for me. It scares me to ever want to download another free app from the iTunes store.

I just had my acct hacked this morning. After reading these threads, this is very concerning. I did receive a response that they will be posting a credit to my acct, however, I am frustrated by the response they seem to have given to everyone. I was told the unauthorized purchase was made via my iPad - something I do not own. My children do not have the capability to make in-app purchases, nor can they download anything without a password. I am responding only because it was also a "TAP4FUN" app that was purchased. I did check my cc information, and thought I had one on my acct, but it showed that there was not any info regarding CC's. Now I am concerned and will be calling my CC to confirm no unauthorized charges have been made. While I will be getting my money back, they are not refunding the sales tax I was charged. I would have thought that Apple would have better security systems in place to prevent this apparent common security breach. What is the point of authorizing a device to use my account if anyone can hack into it and make purchases anyway...

Same here some one hacked my account this morning too I lost 50 dollars. Is there any way to call apple because I can't stand waiting for them to respond to email.

Same here someone hacked my account yesterday too I lost 25 dollars. I had just added a 25$ apple gift card to my account. Sent an email to Apple, but got no answer yet.

I got a response rather quickly, however, the responses are canned and continue to insinuate that I am to blame for not securing my account. All the recommended security steps were in place when my account was accessed. The only thing Apple has done is to disable my account, which I asked for it to be enabled. They required me to reset my password again.

Their response is below:

Vinoth here again.

I have re-enabled your iTunes Store account. To sign in to your account, you will need to visit http://iforgot.apple.com and reset your password.

To increase your account's security, I recommend you follow the suggestions outlined in this article when resetting your password:

iTunes Store: Best practices for protecting the security of your account

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4156

After resetting your password, we recommend that you change your security question(s) immediately. This helps to prevent anyone else from using your iTunes Store account. You can change your security question(s) here:

https://appleid.apple.com

On the Apple ID page, choose Manage Your Account. Then sign in with your Apple ID and choose "Password and Security" on the left. After you have reset your security question(s), click on Save Changes..

Stephanie, we have taken precautionary measures in your iTunes Store account to avoid any further fraudulent activities.

I hope you find this information helpful. Please feel free to reply to this email if you have any further inquires. Have a good day!

Sincerely,

Vinoth

Here is what I got out of my experience yesterday: Thieves opened new accounts with "my information" and those accounts were linked to my real account, which had a credit card on file. They ordered a $40 gift card last Friday, then another one yesterday. (There were some other charges from a couple weeks ago too.)

From what the Apple Advisor said, they probably did not get my iTunes password, and probably did not even know my credit card number. But, they must have had my iTunes ID, which is just my email address, and maybe some other semi-private information. BINGO! If link to an account with an open line of credit, away they go. I'll bet we can Google and get the hack. Someone has to have how this is done posted.

They told me to not put a credit card or debit card on the account, and just load it with small gift cards when I want to buy something. That limits my exposure, but it doen't solve anything.

I was disappointed that they took it all so well, like this is all they hear all day long. They did disable all the other accounts, and also took my credit card off the account, and asked me to change my password and challenge question. But I don't think they need those things to link to my account anyway. I think Apple has a big security hole.

They need a way for me to say, this is my one and only account. Or, how about sending me an email when anything is purchased from one of my accounts? Or having a master Purchase History so I can see what's going on? It seems that their system is ripe for fraud.

DavidLeslie