Q: iTunes store account hacked

Apple refunded my account today, bout 3 days after my email to them so no complaints here about that.

Although, something needs to be done about this. There are patterns, same developers apps being charged, same games, surely Apple can do something.

I am yet to have any issues with other services that have my CC on file (touch wood). Will only use vouchers from now on, at least Apple can refund my credit as opposed to having to get my bank involved if its charged to my CC.

I got hacked last night and all 110$ has been drained out and they bought this

Original Gangstaz, 3000 Street Creds, Seller: Addmired, Inc
Report a Problem Addmired, Inc In-App Purchase $99.99Subtotal:$99.99Tax:$0.00Order Total:$99.99

I dont receieve any help from apple yet

just my account is blocked and retrieve the password !

This is appauling .....

My all the money has been gone :((((((((((

is there a way of getting my money back .... ??? pleaseeeeeeeeeeee helpppppppppp

How do i get my money back i dont have the reciept for another 10dollar .. just this 100 dollar ingame purchase recipt i have .. they do know i dont buy this expensive in game purchases and can track my IP and all ..

:((((((( Sorry just so much worried

No stress... just after two days, apple refund my account after the complaint

Ben

Add me to the list .. Apple did notify that the purchase was from a device that was never used with my account .. but there was nothing I could do to prevent this purchase. Reported the problem to Apple. Waiting to hear back from them.

Sandeep

Add me too...last night I got hacked.  I got an email from Apple stating that the purchase was from an unauthorized device.  When I looked into it, I found $28.95 missing from my itunes account and kingdom conquest purchases equalling that amount on my previous purchases.  I never heard of the game until today when I researched it.  I changed my passwords and security information and notified Apple.  I am feeling sort of violated as I always thought itunes was secure.  I am happy that I didn't have a credit card on the account, just gift cards. 

Got this back from Apple (72 hours later) It need to be read as an email backwards of course:-

Hi Amadeus,

Thank you for your response, let me say that I am deeply concerned with regard to what has happened to my account, largely because I do not understand the mechanics of how this has occurred. When I realised something was wrong and after I changed my password I googled "ITunes account hacked" and was truly amazed at the magnitude of the problem. I subscribed to a single blog "Apple Support Community" and elected to receive posts from just a single from many threads on this subject, the posts from this thread alone are coming in almost hourly all stating that users accounts have been hacked!

Apple/ITunes clearly have a major problem and from what I read this has been going unchecked for some considerable time.

What I fail to understand that why ITunes informed me that my account had been changed and then WITHOUT confirmation that I had made that change allowed two purchases within two minutes of the change, why was the account not blocked until I has a chance to inform ITunes that it was not me? Surely I would need to respond to the first email before I could use my account, is this not a simple safeguard??

I do appreciate your consideration but can't help to be worried that this won't happen again, what assurance can you give me?

I was so impressed with my Ipod it was my intention to purchase 3 x Ipad this Xmas for Myself, my Wife and my Daughter, this idea is now on hold, as is the purchase of any more gift vouchers until this problem has been resolved, I really feel uncomfortable with the Apple products and need some tangible assurance that it is impossible for this to happen again.

I just thank myself for not linking my account to a credit card.

Just one further question how long will my account be frozen?

Best regards

Steve

-----Original Message-----
From: iTunes Store [mailto:iTunesStoreSupport@apple.com]
Sent: 09 August 2011 6:43 PM
To: XXXXXXXXXXX@XXXXXX.com
Subject: Re: My concern is not listed here; Follow-up: xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Greetings Steve,

My name is Amadeus and from reading your mail I see there is some concern that you have been fleeced for 15.98.  It always pains me to hear about unauthorized activity on one of our customer's iTunes Store accounts as a man that has been through it three times myself with various other online stores, and I will do my best to provide you with the necessary information to resolve this matter quickly and concisely.

I apologize for the delay in responding, we've been experiencing some higher service levels lately and we are a wee bit behind.  I see also you requested someone to call on the telephone.  If I could call you, or have you call me it would certainly be a delight but unfortunately we have no telephone service for account issues nor do we even have telephones at our desk.  It's all email based.  But, allow me the chance to explain exactly what is going on, how we can and are helping you, and how to proceed.

To prevent further purchasing I have disabled your account for the time being.  **Take heed, disabling your account will prevent future orders from being opened while the account is still disabled but will not prevent already open orders from clearing.  **Also note that you may still access your account and check your purchase history or even make changes to the account (change password, remove credit card, etc).  A disabled account does not have the option to make a purchase or download content.

After reviewing the circumstances of your case, we determined that issuing you a refund for the items that were purchased without your permission is an appropriate exception to the iTunes Store Terms and Conditions, which state that all sales are final. A refund in the amount of 15.98 will be credited to the payment method(s) that were used to pay for the items within 10 working days.

To increase the security of your account I highly recommend that you follow the suggestions outlined in the following article:

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

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

If you suspect you are the victim of identity theft, consider following these recommendations:

- Contact the fraud departments of any consumer reporting company to place a fraud alert on your credit report.

- Close the accounts that you believe have been used without your knowledge.

If and when you would like to have your account enabled again you need only reply with the following information for verification purposes:

- the billing address listed on the account (number, street, city, state and zip code [postal code])

...as well as one of the following:

- any recent order number that was authorized by yourself that is not the number(s) you reported (you can locate order numbers by following these instructions: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2727)

- or the name of any item you've purchased or downloaded (free app) using this account (please be specific, the name of an artist or a TV show title is not specific enough)

Once I receive this information please give me a few days to verify the account and I will send you a mail with further instructions.

If you have further questions or concerns in the meantime, please feel free to reply and I'll gladly address them.  In light of the current circumstances I do hope you have a pleasant day Steve.

Kind regards,

Amadeus

iTunes Store/Mac App Store Customer Support

Sunday to Saturday, 8a.m., to 4:30p.m. Sunday, Saturday OFF.

Thank-you for allowing me the opportunity to assist you.  You may receive an AppleCare survey e-mail; any feedback you provide would be greatly appreciated.

Customer First Name : xxxxxx

Customer Last Name : xxxxxx

email : XXXXXXXXXXX@XXXXXX.com

Web Order # : xxxxxxxxxxxx

Support Subject : My concern is not listed here

Sub Issue : Other Question

Comments : Apple ID: XXXXXXXXXXX@XXXXXX.com

Platform : iTunes/10.3.1 (Windows; Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 (Build 2600)) AppleWebKit/533.21.1

PlayList Name : Short D*ck Man

Comments :

This is the second time I have reported this fraud. I did not purcahse this, no one else has access to my PC. My account has been HACKED, I need your assistance. Ma account was changed at 04:35 Sunday 07/08/2011 not by me and the purcahses were made 04:37 again not by me. I have since changed my password. My account has been compromised I need you to respond and help me. I have been robbed. Please respond

I think it is time to find alternatives to iTunes.  Meanwhile, change all your internet passwords at least every 3 months.  The next big thing already IS cybercrime. All they have to do is sit in their living room and raid other peoples accounts.  Apparently is isn't even that difficult to figure out how to do, and they are passing around the information to all their friends.  Apple is probably much more freaked out than we realize, but they certainly can't do anything to protect their customers.  It's up to you.

My account was hacked a while back - it has not happened again (yet).

I was wondering why the accounts are being hacked & how the perpetrators benefit from buying an app on your behalf. Of course it's not buying the app that they get any benefit from. It's from the in app purchases. So, in my case they purchased a poker game and then a load of chips. I have since installed the poker app on my iPad (since it was in my list of purchased apps even after Apple gave me the refund) - it works fine but there are no extra chips that were bought as an in app purchase. They will have been sold on the Internet ... and that's how the perpetrators are making money from the hack. I did a search on Google and sure enough there are people selling poker chips for the app.

I woke up this morning to find an email telling me that my credit card and shipping address were changed for my apple itunes account.  There was also another email telling me that the app KingdomConquest was purchased on a device that was previously not authorized on my account.  I went to sign into my account to find that the account was frozen and that I had to change my password.  I took care of that and changed my login info.  My address was correct so i don't understand and there was no credit card info on the account.  (I think I used to have a cc here but can't remember, don't use itunes often.)  The app was billed to my account and two other 40 something dollar charges to SEGA something.  I lost about 98 bucks in one swoop. 

I called apple support today and am waiting to hear back.  It is good to read that they are rapidly refunding the money but I really want to know how this scam is being accomplished.  I keep a very secure computer and there is no way i was scammed via email, I'm not that gullable. 

Guess I will wait and see what happens.  I am at least happy to know this isn't just me and an isolated incident.  I am a bit upset with what I've read about this issue and Apple's "ignore the issue attitude" I've been reading about.  I am new to Apple and was considering changing from a Droid to the Iphone 5 when it comes out but this sours me a bit....

Just an update.  I contacted Apple last night and within less than 24 hours, I received a response.  They sent me the same email that many of you received and stated that they will refund my money within 5-7 days.  My account was also deauthorized (I guess for my protection).  I was very pleased with the customer service and quick response, but the tone of the email was a bit disappointing.  I felt like I was being accused of causing this to happen.  I am not sure how this happened as I am super careful with passwords and virus protection.  It seems as though there is a breach and I won't be using my account until it is fixed.  I have always been an Apple fan until now...

This is B*****ks, my money has been credited but my account is frozen (apple ID disabled) no word of how or when I will be able to use my account again. No phone numbers. Tried Apple shop useless, this settles it no IPads this xmas we are going android...

Apple you have some serious work to do with security and customer service.

Relax..

My account was still locked the day before Lion was released (the Gift card balance was for Lion)

I simply emailed the person I was dealing with and politely asked if there was anyway my Apple Id could be re enabled in time for Lion.

About 45 minutes later I got the email stating the money was back in, and the account was good to go. (it was)

But I had to once again change my Password to get back in.

And don't punish yourself with an Android... you will regret it.

Well Zenobius, you obviously have more luck than me, I have emailed customer support no less than seven times over the last week and have only had one reply, which informed be in an accusing way, that on this occasion they would refund the my money that THEY had let someone else use, but this was an exception.

They failed to answer the most fundamental question I asked, "why did they allow two downloads two minutes after my details were changed without confirmation that it was I that changed these details".

They have given no assurances that they will endeavour to cure this massive security issue, in fact they have not aknowledged that one exists, I have spoken to tech support and an Apple shop both stated that they had never heard of the problem, although the shop did inicate finally that they are experiencing security problems but would not elaborate.

If Apple elect to use electronic communication then they should have the resource to conduct it "Live", it is ubacceptable for a customer whose account is violated and then suspended and whose questions go unanswered to need to rely on email, which in my experience often goes unanswered.

On the subject of Android my Daughter bought a "budget" tablet and has had no problems at all with it, given it isn't as "glossy" but it is far more functional and adaptable.

Further my HTC Desire far outstrips my IPhone 4, although the Iphone is better for games but thats not why you have a phone is it?

Sorry Apple is not for me.

Hello, the same happened to me and approx. 64 Euros have gone.

Of course I´ve changed the password and removed all allowed pc´s from the account. (It is bad that I cannot see which one had been added last. Only numbers have been shown)

Other companies show you much more PC informations)

The big problem is, that apple does not ask for a master account password if you want to add a new pc.

Even my doughters internet based learning game from a German trustable company, with a long history, has such a "parent" function.

I would strongly recommend to Apple to add in such a function for every action by allowing the user to switch it off and on.

So Login and purchase have different passwords and makes life not easier but secure the money.

I will see if I get charged back.

So far I was happy with Itunes and the warning functionality is a very good thing, but in this case I checked my e-mail account 10 hours to late :-(