Last night I told you that a Vietnamese hacker managed to "break" the iTunes servers that deal with the "Books" category in the AppStore and managed to change the names and icons of some applications, but more seriously he broke the iTunes accounts of hundreds of users from all over the world world, and through them he made purchases of hundreds of dollars from the AppStore. From last night until today, dozens of iTunes account holders reported that through their accounts purchases of books and applications were made, reaching amounts between $200 - $600 per account, but these amounts can be found to have been loaded into the accounts of many users .
"I've just noticed my iTunes account has been hacked in the past week. Someone has downloaded 8 apps and two songs totaling £61.70. The most expensive being an app called All Match by CharismaIST for £54.99! The other apps seem to be based on photographers like Camera One, Night Shot, Camera Flash Ultra. Surely Apple won't pay out to these developers. I have changed my password and put in an email complaint to iTunes so we'll see how it goes."
"Yesterday my credit union contacted me saying there was suspicious activity on my debit card. Sure enough over 10 transactions in the $40-$50 area all on iTunes equaling to $558″
"I also received a receipt via email on my "Purchases" on 7/2/10. I made the mistake of storing my debit card on the itunesstore app. I have run into the exact same responses that other users are reporting–only email as a method of contact.
That response was to tell me how to change passwords, etc. - stock answers and to also tell me of no refunds. I was an internet technician for years so the iTunes advise was second nature for me but with little hope for "fixing" the issue since I believe that the breach was on the iTunes server.
Thankfully, I carry a smartphone with my email setup on it, so I received the invoice quickly. Most of the 15 purchases where for items that I don't even own ie iphone (I have a blackberry) and ipod (I'm 47 and I still use a radio for my music). I was able to verify the $70.15 charge via mobile banking and immediately called my bank. The transaction was in the processing stage and I think my bank was able to refuse it–I'll see after the holiday weekend. With my card canceled, the additional $20+ charge was unable to be authorized.
I noticed reading the comments that someone was starting a class action suit, there are enough victims to be able to make iTunes responsible for this.
I will not take this laying down–I've filed a police report and filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and if I can afford it–I want to be included in the class action suit if it was started. I am currently trying to figure out how to get the news media notified of this scam. "
These are just 3 of the comments left by dozens of users on forums complaining that unfortunately their accounts were hacked by the hacker from Vietnam. This whole problem has been going on since last week and even though Apple knew there were problems, it still didn't give much importance and unfortunately it got quite far with this problem and there is information that indicates that some damaged users will sue Apple due to these problems. My advice is to remove the credit card attached to the iTunes account until Apple clarifies the whole situation.
