iTunes store account hacked

I don't see a way to use iTunes anymore, unfortunately. My credit card was compromised immediately after renting a movie from iTunes about 3 weeks ago. Luckily my Credit Union caught it. But why would I put my new number in the system? And speaking of "system," has anyone noticed how incredibly cumbersome it is to use the customer help system at Apple. It's easy to buy -- click! But any problem? Forget it!

Still no response from Apple, spoke to 3 people in Apple store, 1 who was manager, still no further forward, itunes store never respond to emails, only ever get occasional "we have received your email auto reply"

Have now been unable to use store to sort out apps, Lion etc since 21st July, appallingly slow customer service and no one you can phone, for a company as big as Apple this is ridiculous😠

Add me to the list. Yesterday was the second time my account has been compromised, and my gift card balance has been drained. The first time it happened they charged around $30 to in-app purchases from RacingLive, as well as changed my address to Towson, MD. I was pretty mad at the response I got from Apple, a canned e-mail explaining how In-App purchases work. I finally got the charges reversed, but I'm still not convinced that anyone on their end even read what I was saying. That was about six months ago. Yesterday, it happened again. $19.99 for 帝國 Online, leaving me with a gift card balance of $.49. Still waiting to hear back from Apple.

I discovered from iTunes receipts emailed to me that 4 unauthorised purchases had been made from my account (gift card) totalling around 28 UK pounds (around $45) . All were to do with Sega Kingdom Come.

I emailed Apple support and today (4 days later) received a polite email apologising for the delay and crediting my account. They also asked me to reset my password.

I hope others have an equally positive experience.

Looks like it is my turn.

Despite having a very secure password, and extreme practices of online safety, my iTunes account was compromised.

Though I was quick to change the password, I still got dinged.

A game Order and Chaos was purchased (FREE - for a 6.99 game actually - a 'gift from michelle' was the note)

Today I got a the following note:

I do not know if this happened before my password changed, or after, nor can I figure out HOW they got my password, but I hope there are no more, and that Apple helps me out.

I want this game off my account... And my money back.

Sadly I have heard a lot of people had issues with Order & Chaos© Online, so why is this app still allowed to exsist on the store?

I will let you know if Apple steps up to help.

Thank goodness I only use iTunes cards.

I sent Apple an e-mail about the hacking and asked for the money back about a week ago and no response. When I tried loggin in on my iPod Touch it said my account was disabled so I guess the hacker (or a new one) tried getting into my account again. Password reset again.

Had an email today saying a purchase had been made from a unauthorized machine, and also that someone had attempted to change my credit card details. So I've checked my account and someone had purchased Flight Tycoon and 3 seperate in app purchases at half 5 this morning! I too had money in my account from a gift card. My account details haven't changed except for the fact I have no credit card details on the account anymore.

From reading others responses, it appears that the people doing this are unable to hack the actual credit card, just the account. Why bother to risk prosecution for the sake of playing a few apps? The only other explanation would be that the hackers are purchasing their own apps using others itunes credit, therefore getting the money themselves. This surely can't be the case with such a popular app as Flight Tycoon.

I have emailed iTunes, so hopefully I will receive a reimbursment. You don't suppose all our passwords are the same?! And someone is using software to go through account names trying the password?

iTunes account hacked...gift card drained on July 28...since all the apps were from 1 Chinese developer, makes sense they might be most interested in driving sales and raising app popularity.

Serious data security breach with iTunes. Appears they looked at my credit card and other personal information -- including phone number -- and Apple appears to not even acknowledge the problem!

Now, how to get credit back?

I've posted this twice before and emailed MacRumors about it and it doesn't seem to be getting any traction.

Go to this link: http://china.globaltimes.cn/society/2011-01/609351.html. I am certain that this is what is happening to our accounts. This follows the modus operandi of these hackers: get in, spend a little bit in small increments, and get out, without causing a disturbance. The accounts aren't being individually hacked, but hacked in large scale and then sold one by one in China.

At first I thought that maybe the points/coins/credits within the games were being sold for profit, but I am overwhelmingly convinced that the accounts are being sold individually in China.

Keep in mind just as info, I originally posted on May 28, got tuned into this mess because my Yahoo email account associated with ITunes sent me a text that someone tried to access my password via secret question so for whatever reason they are hacking, they are trying to get into other stuff. I figured they were trying to figure out the password and see if they could find anything related to the credit card. (I immediately removed the credit card and and we continue use strictly gift cards. I still had credit card on account even though we are trying to budget by using gift cards only) We "wishlist" until we have enough for a certain denomination, I buy them at Sam's Club where the more your purchase the bigger the discount, like $5 below the face value of the pack of cards, and when we have enough we load a card and spend, leaving less than a dollar. I've started changing my passwords on everything on random days, a pain but if you go back that far in the forums you will see a lot of people going through this, with several having their credit card info changed to an address in Maryland, etc.. I'm not taking any chances.

Here's what I don't understand, how some consumer/pc watchdog or competitor group hasn't gotten their claws into this yet? Itunes was hacked, gift card on file was drained, Apple was very responsive to refund, but there has to be something internal somewhere leaving consumers vulnerable...needs to be addressed and is prime pickings for the competition isn't it? If someone could make this public somehow it would be fixed in a heartbeat..I know any thought I had of purchasing and IPAD for ebooks is on hold right now. I'm not going to be stressed about carrying a balance and going through the deactiviate/reactivate process all the time.

I see allot of things that looks like my problem. Only thing is i linked my apple account to a click & buy account. I used a password that no one knows and only use it for my app account, and changed it like a month ago. The biggest problem is ( last sunday ) someone bought apps for € 736,-. Made allot of calls had to go to the police station to complain a file. I dont know how its possible to hack like that. It really ****** me off, why would someone do that? The weirdest thing is i cant see on my apple account what the hacker bought, i only see he bought allot of things in the apple store on a email conformation from click and buy. Hope it will be solved...

I used a debit card to download free apps to my iPod Touch, and had several charges each month for itunes purchases, didn't notice for a while. Have only used gift cards since, now it seems those are not safe either. Wanted to by Lion with a gift card the day it came out but havent bothered. Also have only bought mp3s from amazon ever since that happened. Really appreciate everyone on here who let me know gift cards are not safe. Wonder if it has to do with wifi traffic being hacked when people enter their info, whether credit card or gift card.

This happend to me today $50 in itunes store credit gone, thanks to "kingdomConquest" which i never downloaded, or even knew existed till today. Called apple waiting on them to contact me back. I have removed all payment methods from my account and changed the password and email address, also deauthorized all the devices linked to the account. After reading through the post here i'm trying to figer out why apple doesn't just remove the apps in question from the app store.

There seems to be too many of these happening, recently I have experianced the same thing whereby my account has had transactions take place even a second time after the password was changed to a random strong password. Normally Apple support is really good at getting back to me however this time I have not heard from them at all and wonder what the outcome will be.... Surely if they know about the problem with gift cards they would improve security etc.

My account also got hacked. The thief bought an app called World War and did an ingame purchase for 79,99 Euro.

I noticed Click and Buy, my bank and Apple. I didn' t go to the police yet, because I doubt they can do anything.

I changed my iTunes password and the secret question. I removed all authorized computers in iTunes. There were 5 wich is odd, since I only have iTunes on 1 pc. I also removed Click and Buy as payment option. I checked my bank account, but the money isn't gone yet. I hope it wll all be OK.