iTunes users under ‘hack’ fear

According to TheNextWeb it appears that iTunes accounts all over the world are being hacked. Hundreds and thousands of dollars are apparently being taken from people's accounts without permission. Detailed information on this was posted on razorianfly yesterday.

This was first spotted by application developers who apparently spotted 40 out of 50 in the books section were created by the same developer. The working theory to this point is that this rogue developer is somehow hacking user accounts and then buying multiple copies of his own applications to raise his ranking on the store.

One of the reports from a MacRumors forum member explains his own situation after being swindled.

“Yesterday my credit union contacted me saying there was suspicious activity on my debit card. SuI 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 i.e. 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 makeiTunes 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. “

MacRumors responded to this yesterday claiming that the reports of the App Store getting hacked were ‘greatly exaggerated‘.

“A couple of reviews left on one of the books revealed that at least two customers had their iTunes accounts compromised to purchase the books. This led to theories that a widespread attack specifically tied to this developer could be the cause of the rise in ranks. Which then led to a cascade of headlines suggesting that everyone's iTunes account was suddenly vulnerable to a coordinated attack. While we do believe that this developer had been trying to game the iTunes ranking system, it's hard to believe that their efforts affected more than a few hundred accounts worldwide.”

KitGuru says: Have you been the victim of an iTunes issue? let us know in our forums.

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