Q: iTunes store account hacked

Hello john doe,

Danielle here from the iTunes Store. I understand that some unauthorized purchases were made on your account. I know how concerning this can be and I imagine you must be eager to get this issue resolved. I'm happy to help.

Your iTunes Store account was disabled due to a chargeback from PayPal to prevent further purchases from being made on your account. PayPal should return your money for $11.99 once the chargeback has finished processing. You may wish to contact PayPal to find out what the status is on your chargeback.

The other order for $39.91 did not go through successfully so you will not be charged for this.

If you would like to have your account enabled, please reply to this email to let me know and I will re-enable your account for you.

Please don't hesitate to contact me back if you require further assistance with this issue. If you reply directly to this email, your response will come straight to me.

Thank you John Doe for contacting iTunes Store Customer Support. I hope that you continue to enjoy the iTunes Store. Have a great day.

Sincerely,

Danielle

We will see if i get my money back, but at least it didnt let all the purchases go through, account was hacked at 3 am this morning woke up to the disturbing fact someone had use my account unlinked from paypal wont be authorizing itunes again with any C/C info again..

I just noticed that my iTunes credit was depleted, using a KingdomConquest game that I never purchased/downloaded.  All totalled $62.96.  I've been trying to use the 'Report a Problem" link beside each of the questionable purchases but it always takes me back to the main iTunes support screen.

Anyone have an email address or phone number to iTunes support?  It would be much appreciated.

THAT JUST HAPPENED TO ME RIGHT NOW.

someone downloaded a game Island Empire, and spend $54.43 buying "GEMS" with my account. I clicked to report a problem, but it only brought me to the iTunes support website. Someone, please give me a email address or phone number to contact.

I have read through most of this post and it seems like my problem is a little different.  All of my iTunes purchases are correct, but I have 2 additional charges for $40 each and now one for $99 on my CC that do not relate to anything in iTunes or Apple.  They appear just the same on my bank statement as the 2 purchases for $1.29 and $19 that I did authorize and do have receipts for. 

I'm in the process of cancelling my card and I have contacted Apple and am waiting to hear back from them.  With no iTunes receipt how are they going to trace the purchase? 

Add me to the list.  I just finished talking with Applie because I apparenlty also was victim to the in-app purchase hack for about $44.  I also was using a $50 gift card credit. 

I just called Apple's Customer Support and told them what happened and because it wasnt a credit card, but app store credit, they said that i should be getting my money back in the next 24 hours. Customer support is great, you just have to call in when theyre available. Good luck!

Please view the following chain of emails. Other than getting my funds refunded as a one-time exception, this was a waste of time.

Dear *****,
This is Chris with iTunes Store Support. I see that you have an in-app purchase on your account. I can understand how this can be an inconvenience and I will be happy to look into this for you.
This is called an "In-App Purchase". For information on this type of purchase, check out this article:
iTunes Store: About In-App Purchases
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4009
***, I understand that the purchase of "100" was unintentional. You will see a store credit of $4.99, plus any applicable taxes, in five to seven business days. You may need to sign out of the iTunes Store and then sign back in before you see the credit in your account.
Please note that this is a one-time exception, as the iTunes Store Terms and Conditions state that all sales are final.
It is always a good idea to keep your iOS device up to date. To learn how to back up and update your device, visit:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1414
If you would like to prevent In-App Purchases from being made in the future, you can block them on your iOS device. Follow these steps:
1) Tap Settings on your device's home screen.
2) Tap General.
3) Tap Restrictions.
4) If necessary, tap Enable Restrictions and enter a passcode. This passcode will prevent restrictions from being disabled without your permission.
5) Scroll down to the Allowed Content section. Switch the In-App Purchases option to OFF. Enter your Restrictions passcode if prompted.
Thanks for allowing me the opportunity to assist you, ***. I hope you have a wonderful day.
Sincerely,
Chris
iTunes Store/Mac App Store Customer Service
Please Note: I work Wednesday- Sunday, 8:00AM-4:30PM ET

RESPONSE FROM ME:

Can you clarify?
I do not even have nor have I ever had the app for the purchase that was made. It is some sort of Asian game and I don't speak any Asian languages.
In fact my IPOD was not even powered up in the last week.
My PC was however I have no apps downloaded on the PC and I rarely run Itunes.
I believe you have a problem here and it's not on any of my devices.
Instead of assuming I made a mistake somewhere I would suggest that you inform your technical support to look into this further.
Regards,

RESPONSE FROM ITUNES:

Dear ***,

This is Chris with iTunes Store Support again. I see that you are not satisfied with the answer provided to your issue. I do apologize for any inconvenience this has caused.
***, unfortunately no further investigation needed in this matter if you like we can disable your iTunes account until you are able to determine if someone accidentally purchased the content on your end. We also recommend if you feel that someone has used your account without your knowledge to change the password on your account.
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

RESPONSE FROM ME:

No disabling of the account is required!
Please understand that

#1 - it was Apple that informed me via email that this item was purchased from a device that had never been used on the account before.
#2 - I only have 1 apple device (IPOD Touch 3g) and 1 PC.
#3 - upon getting the email, I immediately followed the instructions of changing my password in case my account had been hacked.
As Apple is a company where security is of the utmost importance, I can easily see that by putting the error on the customer without any investigation and no way for the customer to prove otherwise, this absolves Apple of any responsibility.
Unless Apple is willing to accept that they might have an issue and further investigation is required or at least some form of information supplied to me as the customer, to show that this is at my end and some way to rectify the issue, there is no way that I will be satisfied with any answer that Apple is giving me.
Thank you for your prompt responses and for crediting my account as a 1 time deal.
Regards,

RESPONSE FROM ITUNES:

Dear ***,
This is Chris with iTunes Store Support again.

I'm sorry that I can't be of further assistance with your request, but the iTunes Store does not provide any account information—including account activity and personal information—without a subpoena. We do this for your protection.
You may access certain account information by signing in to the iTunes Store and choosing View My Account from the Store menu at the top. You will need to log in with your Apple ID and password. If you no longer have the password, click the button that says "Forgot Password?"
If you need further assistance regarding this issue, please contact your legal advisor, who may contact Apple's litigation department http://www.apple.com/legal/contacts.html on your behalf.
Thanks for allowing me the opportunity to assist you, ***. I hope you have a wonderful day.
Sincerely,
Chris
iTunes Store/Mac App Store Customer Service
Please Note: I work Wednesday- Sunday, 8:00AM-4:30PM ET

Just an update.  Apple did promptly refund the gift card balance that was depleted.  When I did the chat I was told they were going to disable my acct and I needed to contact them in 3-5 days to reactivate my acct but I just checked and my acct was reactived without having to contact them.  I consider that a plus (less hassle). 

Now that I have a balance I wonder if this is going to be an issue again--hope not! 

I have never had an acct hacked before and I was upset.  About ten years ago I did have a credit card number stolen (still had my card so did not know the number was stolen) and the thief used my card number to make a large catalog purchase at Bloomingdales and Nordstroms.  Nordstroms customer service contacted me via phone to make sure I had made that purchase and I was like no--I hadn't. Nordstorms alerted me to what had happened.  To do this day I am loyal to Nordstroms.  I called Bloomingdales catalog and yelled at them that if a person who has never made a purchase online or via catalog with Bloomingdales, makes a large purchase and has it sent to a completely different address, they need to set up a system where they contact the cardholder to verify.  To this day I dislike Bloomingdales.

The Bloomingdales manager (over phone) kept telling me I would not have to pay for the purchase and I told her she let the thief get away with a ton of merchandise.  She let them win and they did it in my name.  She couldn't understand why I was so upset. 

I got 'hacked' also by someone who made 7 unauthorized itunes store purchases via my paypal account early morning  Mar 3 .  I did the necessary steps to change my appleid, password, notify paypal, notify my bank, notify itunes, got billing link of itunes store to paypal disabled, etc.

Then I got an additional receipt from itunes saying that someone (I'm assuming the same person) tried to purchase  an additional item at about 6pm on Mar 3. but it didn't go through because the 'itunes/paypal billing

agreement had been cancelled.  Just to make sure, I wanted to follow instructions given by itunes to change my method of payment from paypal to 'none' on the new appleid.   HOWEVER, I couldn't because I would not let the current fraudulent transaction go through!  Here is what was stated in the email I received from iTunes:

...It appears that the payment for order number ############ was declined and is still outstanding. Once that order has processed, you may want to contact PayPal and request a chargeback for it as well.

You also have the option to remove your payment information from the iTunes Store. To do so, please follow these steps:

1) Make sure you're using the latest version of iTunes. It can be downloaded free of charge from the iTunes website:

http://www.itunes.com/download

Note: Installing the latest version of iTunes will not a...

I replied to the email stating that I do NOT intend to approve of a fraudelent transaction, and I think that it's wrong not to let me change my payment type until I do.  The email even stated that Apple iTunes Store was aware of the fact that Paypal was notified and already took action and that they (itunes) had disabled my old appleid which was used to make the unauthorized charges. I will not perpetuate this person's theft on my account.  I requested that they do whatever is necessary to disable/cancel/abort/... my itunes store/paypal link on my account on the old and new appleids.  The item names of the downloads were in Chinese.  I hope this all gets resolved soon.  I was surprised to find out via research (Google) that this has been going on for YEARS and that there have been many victims. Perhaps Apple iTunes store should eliminate that billing link of iTunes to Paypal.

Under Top Grossing, as of right now, there are six of these Asian apps listed. All of them have hacked the users, stolen their money(some people even reported up to $99.99 being spent on unauthorized in-app purchases), and have a bunch of bad reviews.  I do not understand why Apple does not remove any of the fraudulent apps, especially since people have been reporting this issue for some time. More people are going to become victims because of Apple's failure to act. And the thieves just get to walk away . . .

Day 7 and still waiting for my ID to be restored.  Apple responded pretty quickly at first, restored my funds (which I cannot use because my id is disabled), promised to get back to me, and then went silent.  I've gone through the not very named "Express Lane" area again.

Good news. 

An extremely understandable Apple iTunes service rep resolved my issues.

I was able to change my payment method to 'None' after the unauthorized balance was wiped

out. Also, my new apple id was disabled, in addition to my old apple id.

The email that was sent by the rep was professionally written with knowledgeable understanding

and caring about my issue.  This is not usually done these days.  Service reps usually give robotic, insensitive

responses to issues that show lack of knowledge about the product, lack of the procedures to successfully resolve an issue and lack of people skills.

aww bugger got hit buy this last night woke up to random asian app installed and all my money gone

mate the hacker will own the game therefore making profit.....

So i"m not the one...

My account was hacked last night. 47 euros were spent from my itunes card (only 60 cents left). The apps are something in asian language, from KoramGame.com.

Was not simple but I found the page on the Apple support where I've explained my problem. I'm now waiting for response.