iTunes store account hacked

I had a similar problem, my account was hacked for the following items on 2/19/11, totaling $48- I had in my account.
帝國 Online, 23400銀幣禮包, Seller: GAMEISLIVE CORPORATION LIMITED,
帝國 Online, 23400銀幣禮包, Seller: GAMEISLIVE CORPORATION LIMITED, and
帝國 Online, 5850銀幣禮包, Seller: GAMEISLIVE CORPORATION LIMITED
Changed my password and no credit card info was on file. Does anyone know if this hack effected any other accounts outside of itunes?
I am really upset this happened I thought Apple had a better handle on security. I emailed support and have not heard back yet.

While on a quest to discover as to why my Apple ID has been disabled, I came across this thread indicating problems with unauthorized itunes purchases. I have to add my name to the list of those whose accounts have had unauthorized transactions. I don't share my laptop or desktop with anyone and yet, when I review my itunes account, there sits 2 pending transaction for a song I do not recognize and a pending purchase of a 50 dollar itunes gift card, both dated November 5th, 2010. I was out of the USA at the time, and killing some time I began reviewing my itunes account settings. I was not a happy camper when I discovered that my CC on file had been changed without my authorization as well as a change of billing address to show some place in TN. I can only speculate that these transactions didn't post was due to the fact, that my CC compares the billing address from Apple and the billing address I have on file with the CC to see if there is a discrepancy, that if there is such, then the transactions fails. BUT, if you have purchases made via an ITUNES gift card, then no such comparison is made and the transaction is honored. Billing / Mailing address, point of contact telephone is altered so that contact from Apple to you is difficult at best. Clearly, Apple needs to revisit this problem for a more robust solution since I see that this appears to be a continuing problem.

I'm in the same situation. Received an email in the wee hours of the morning stating that billing information had been changed to Towson, MD. I got online and changed the password but the account balance on my gift card was basically tapped out. Didn't have a CC on file, thankfully.

Like one of the other posters mentioned, I too do not usually access iTunes via the PC, usually on the device itself.

This posting is a follow up to the original post made on this thread on 2/21/2011 @ 5:30am

On the morning of 2/22, I placed a phone call to AppleCare (1-800-275-2273) and conveyed to the technician that I was having trouble in accessing the app store for the mac, the app store for the iphone, as well as being unable to purchase music from the itunes store inspite of being able to log onto the itunes store to change payment data, passwords, and even to review download history. I conveyed to the technician, that I am unable to obtain free apps from the mac app store, the itunes store, and the iphone store. That the common occurance preventing my purchasing/ downloading in all venues was the message, "Your Apple ID has been disabled".

The technician then placed me on hold while he conversed with a technician at the itunes store.

Coming back to me after his talk with the itunes technician, I then was put through to the itunes technician who i assume handles billing issues. I relayed to him that there was 3 transactions for which I didnt not authorize a purchase on. 1. a 50 dollar itunes gift card, 2. a track entitled "What's my name.." for the amount of 1.41 usd, and 3. a track entitled "Behind the Scenes: The Plan" for which there was no charge (0.00 us$). I received an email indicating that a trouble ticket had been opened up as a dispute on the 50 dollars itunes gift card and in a separate email that a trouble ticket had been opened up on the 1.41 usd$ track, disputing the charge. These 2 emails only indicate from Apple that they are investigating this situaition and will email me their decision as to their outcome.

You would think that there would be a button or link to report a problem in ones history. Well, there is and for some reason, the *report a problem* button or link doesnt seem to be working. BTW if you have a problem, Id love for you to post here your results on clicking on the link to *report a problem*. Anyway, that is what I have had to do to escalate my error message as to why my "Apple Id has been disabled"

I hate the thought of abandoning my Apple Id that I have had for years merely to set up another one. Im sure that I will be in contact with Apple over the disposition of these unauthorized charges. I think that it would be a very very good idea. that if you have repeatedly tried to download and caught the "Your Apple ID has been disabled", that this FACT should be emailed to you for followup. Otherwise, you are shutout from what appears to be any and all itunes, mac apps, and iphone apps purchases / downloads.

In summary, if you get the "Your Apple ID has been disabled:" message, go to your itunes app, sign out, the log back in and go review your down load history. If you see an unauthorized purchase, then click on the link to *report a problem*. I am curious to know if that works for you as it didn't work for me. From there, it looks as if a warm human body is required to review your account and to fix it by opening up a trouble ticket. As it stands now, I have 2 trouble tickets investigating the unauthorized purchases as shown in my history AND as of this posting, I still get "Your Apple ID has been disabled" when attempting to download a free app for my iphone 4. This continues to be a developing story.

had the same happen to me - woke yesterday morning to see an itunes receipt with almost identical transactions to yours - 2 "free apps" from Lakoo "online v2.3" followed by two "in app purchases" of $23.99 each.

Tried the itunes "report a problem" but nothing seemed to happen apart from sending you to their website so have raised a support request there.

Surprisingly, unlike previous times, they have not gotten back to me in the "generally 24 hours" which they have in the past so perhaps received a number of these requests??

Thanks for sharing the link.

At the moment, Apple has opened up a trouble ticket on my issues and I am awaiting the results of their investigation. Fortunately I didn't lose any money, but only a disablement of my itunes account that prevents me from futher itunes purchasing, or purchasing of any apps from the mac apps or the iphone apps store.

basically, apple will tell you the standard response. nothing more.
this hasnt happened to enough people yet for them to really care. although i think its not our loose handling of our passwords. i think it has something to do with the gift certificates. i dont beleive it's us, its whoever has found a way to hack gift cert's.i cannot view the ITS, on my mac or ipod. i cannot play music on the ipod. i do plan to contact its soon.
keep us posted on your progress! and good luck

Follow up to my post above, Apple graciously refunded my account, which is great. I sent the technician a link to this forum so they could see I was not the only one this was happening to, however, they still claim it was faulty password security on my part. I changed my password to now be different everywhere just cause it bugged me out, but i believe there is a bigger issue here that has nothing to do with my password security. My hacked account was also loaded with Gift cards maybe that's where the problem lies. Either way I just hope they fix it.

as ive said:
for example, when i told apple that " i changed my password" they replied "you should change your password"
its obv. the gift card thats the common denom.
it doesnt appear apple is doing anything about it. they consider it our fault.
disappointing.
i gave the rep this link, they completely ignored it. they did not even comment at all about ANYTHING I SAID IN MY EMAIL TO THEM! disappointing.
im now starting to spread the word about this to all my friends and family. if apple wont help, at least ive told my email contacts about it.

Hello Brad. I am with you on this event. Good will isn't being generated when you and I post that we have had some difficult experiences on the Itunes store. I don't see how playing the game, "lets pin the tail on the end users" as a productive strategy. On the other hand, its gratifying to know that I'm not merely dreaming this up. Regardless, at the end of the day, I don't have full use of my iphone4 because there appears to be a glitch involving the itunes id. Not only am I prevented from using itunes store, but also the phone apps store, the mac apps store. The links to "report a problem" in your history appear to be disabled or dysfunctional. There are still lingering questions as to HOW these problems started in the 1st place. My reading of this thread, tells me that there is something more than mere neglect by the end user.

So I had the same issue though I discovered it when I was checking out my credit card balance and found some charges I definitely didn't make. My credit card company took care of crediting back my account (didn't think to ask apple to do that). Went through and changed all passwords to all my accounts out there. I found that I now had 2 computers authorized to play my music. I used express lane to get that fixed and they did fix that within 24 hrs but eventually decided to buy a new app only to see that my account had been disabled! It's been 2 days since I used express lane again to try to get my account enabled again and still no response. I tried called apple care but keep getting the pre-recorded "all lines are busy call back later" I'm starting to think that I may just create a new apple ID and start fresh though I have $18 worth of gift card credit left that I want to use. So frustrating!

It is the CC company that can credit you back in most cases - not the vendor.

I have my CC hacked and the bank flagged it - I called the bank and started a dispute claim - I then called the vendor and told them that the charges were fraudulent and my bank would dispute the charges. I was credited -end of story. The vendor would not give me the details or address where the purchase would be going - they said I had to file a complaint with the police.

MJ

Same thing happened to me. This morning I got an email saying my account information had changed (Credit Card and address). As soon as I got the email I logged into iTunes on my phone and changed my password. Looking at my account I noticed that my credit card information was missing and my address city and state were changed to Towsend MD. I contacted my credit card company and had them close my card. I sent Apple an email, but have not heard back yet. It looks like I had two unauthorized purchases this morning of some apps in Chinese writing, but fortunately they were free apps. Also, my account said that there were 5 computers authorized on my iTunes account, but I think I had only authorized 3. This whole thing creeps me out.

This is a follow up / progress report as it relates to me being unable to use the Iphone4 app store, the Mac App Store and the Itunes Store to download content. As of this date 2/25 and time 12:20 am AKDST, I am still unable to purchase tracks from the itunes store. As of 02/23, I did get an email from apple customer support which reads as follow:

Hello,

Thanks for emailing back with the requested information. I also wanted to let you know that your case is being reviewed by our Account Security Team. They will use the information you provided to investigate the possibility of enabling your account. Please note this generally takes about 5 to 7 business days (which puts this date to resolve around March 9th)

Sincerely,

XXXXXXX

iTunes Store Customer Support
Please note: I Work Sunday-Wednesday 6:30AM- 5:30pm PST

terrance,

good, you've made some progress. i recvd 7 more emails from them after that particular one. then i got busy, so i still cant get to the itunes store. maybe you'll get lucky and fine the solution for all of us who get the error mess. "could not complete your request, itunes store is temp. unavailable, try later"
keep us posted!!