Remove your credit card information from iTunes.

[That-Is-Bull]

Just saw this thread on the SomethingAwful forums and thought I'd post it here.

Just a head's up, apparently this is a scam that's making the rounds right this minute.

Charges come through from Apple's iTunes store for < $70.

I just got 5 transactions today totaling around $150.

Merchant tag is "POS DEBIT APL*ITUNES 866-712-7753 CA".

That number is useless. Just tells you to go to Apple's website where they tell you to email them. They then proceed to deny responsibility.

You shouldn't be stupid like me an pretend your credit card information is safe on iTunes. Remove that poo poo now by going to Store -> View My Account.

And here's an article on About.com about it.

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 recommends deleting your credit card information from iTunes. Instead, he suggests 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 purchases with single-use credit card number available from your credit card company.

[MacDawg]

Color me skeptical, but I don't respond well to scare tactics

[That-Is-Bull]

Originally Posted by MacDawg

Color me skeptical, but I don't respond well to scare tactics

Read the comments/replies, other people are having the problem too. I doubt this is just slander from Microsoft.

[aristobrat]

Dispute the charge with your credit card company. They'll do the legwork required to investigate it properly, and if it's fraud, they'll reverse the charges and issue you a new card. They can't simply "deny responsibility/ownership" without doing an investigation and proving if the charges are valid or fraudulent.

The fact the charge says "POS DEBIT" makes it look like the credit card was stolen, and then used at a point-of-sale (i.e. a cash register) to purchase an iTunes gift card (which can easily be resold for cash). There are thousands of stores that sell iTunes gift cards.

To correlate that because a stolen card was used to buy an iTunes Gift Card, that the thief obtained the card number by hacking where Apple keeps its customers' iTunes credit card numbers on file, seems to be a bit of a stretch to me.

Update: If you read the Consumerist article on this subject, it looks pretty clear that thieves are obtaining credit card numbers from other sources, and then using them to buy iTunes gift certificates. Removing your credit card info from iTunes will *not* protect you from this type of crime.

http://consumerist.com/2009/05/watch...nt-or-not.html