Watch Out for Unauthorized Charges From iTunes

April 27, 2010

A MyFox New York story that was posted last year warned about fraudulent credit card and check card charges that appear to be from iTunes. Apparently many people are still falling victim to this scam.

The first signs of the fraud include charges or pending authorizations from a APL*ITUNES business for $1.00 which might seem to be accurate or an email for gift card receipts that were bought with your account. The fraud is happening to a wide-variety of people who might or may not have an iTunes account. From the news story:

The high-tech scam has claimed victims from New York to California. At the heart of it all is Apple’s wildly popular iTunes. Victims state it starts with an unexpected e-mail for buys they never made. That’s how Rachel Katz from Manhattan found out, “I got two emails thanking me for my buy.”

But by the time victims get the e-mail receipt it’s usually too late. The receipts appear to be legitimate, and come from Apple, generated by the user’s iTunes account. The receipts show buys for iTunes electronic gift certificates and charges that hit checking accounts, credit cards or PayPal depending on what the user has linked to his or her iTunes account.

Some of the thieves wait for the $1.00 charge to complete before hitting the account with even higher charges. Sending an initial small charge through first allows the thief to determine whether the account is legitimate.

Many victims of the fraud are having trouble fixing the situation. Neither the banks nor Paypal nor Apple accept ownership. Meanwhile, victims are left without hundreds, even thousands of dollars.

Brett Larson with MyFox advocates deleting your credit card information from iTunes. Instead, he recommends you fund your account with an iTunes gift card. The cards can be purchased from many retailers like Wal-Mart, Target, and Best Buy. Or, you can make iTunes buys with single-use credit card number available from your credit card company.

If you notice an authorization or charges from Apl*itunes, contact your bank immediately.

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