Apple Responds Regarding App Store Sales Ranking Fraud

[Puddinman]

The reason you have to contact your bank is simple, people. And it has little to do with regulations, contracts or what is "fair.".

You have to contact the card issuer because that is the only way to protect yourself! Your card has been compromised! The law only protects you if you report the fraud to the card issuer within a certain time frame.

I honestly don't know why so many people have to make this such a difficult concept when it's so friggin' simple.

 

[DavidLeblond]

App Store needs "Report ********" feature.

It has one.

"Report a problem"

 

[jav6454]

And Apple is helping by both informing customers how they can initiate a chargeback and by not disputing said chargeback when the bank files it with them (since they acknowledge up front the purchase was fraudulant).

They told all customers, not the ones who are affected.

 

[jacobo007]

I don´t know why do you guys think Apple is in the wrong here, it´s not their fault that your iTunes password is weak, that is your own fault.

Credit Card fraud is always taken care of by the Bank.

Both of those are hard facts, there is nothing more to it than that.

 

[organerito]

I'm pretty sure the bank is the one who has to do this.

When I worked at CCity and Best Buy back in the day there was nothing we could do to issue a charge back, the customer had to call their bank.

+1
I had a problem with Verizon. They were charging me 180$ for my monthly bill. The problem was that I didn't have any phone or any account with them. My bank told me to talk to them first. i talked to Verizon, of course nothing. I called my bank back and they gave me my money 2 days later. They said they were going to take of it with Verizon.

 

[CWallace]

They told all customers, not the ones who are affected.

Well I suppose Apple could go data-mining in their servers and try to find out who, exactly, was affected. But they'd probably make a mistake and then we'd have a new thread on how Apple is "violating privacy" or some-such (though we're already seeing such arguments in the iAds thread).

Since they can't win either way, no surprise they choose to lose as painlessly as possible.

 

[siddavis]

Great and quick response by Apple.

Trust me, as a victim of this BS, I can say that their response has been anything but great and quick. My account has been disabled now for 2 weeks with no end in sight. They are "reviewing" it and will get back to me. What's to review? My systems are fully Apple and I'm not a moron that would fall for phishing scams. I'm not a power iTunes user, in fact after reviewing my purchase history, over the course of 6 YEARS I only purchased about $59 worth of stuff. Over the course of 3 DAYS, this jackmayhoffer charged almost $500 worth of crap on my account. The only reason my account was disabled is because my credit card company put a hold on the account which then flagged my iTunes account. Where was Apple's flagging of the account for this suspicious activity?!

Technically, the fraud passed THROUGH Apple systems on the way to occurring on credit card processor's systems. That's where the transaction truly happens, and it is SOP for the card company to be the one who issues refunds and investigates the incident. The card company is the one who wants to go through your recent transactions and discover any other recent suspicious activity, or interesting patterns. They also have resources that the vast majority of merchants do not to investigate a given incident.

Again, anyone suggesting that Apple is falling short here, or should be issuing refunds themselves, is (with all due respect) not familiar with the subject. It would be no different if the merchant were Newegg, Target, or Bill's Imports down on Lake Street.

Are you suggesting that these other merchants have dedicated applications like iTunes where their transactions are handled? This is where I see the difference and place more accountability on Apple. Theirs is more of a "closed" system in that it is not simply a merchant operating a website. I will no longer store credit card info in iTunes because I don't feel the merchant has proper security measures in place to secure it. I'm all for personal responsibility, but until they can prove to me that any of my actions caused this breach, I am pointing a finger.

 

[siddavis]

And Apple is helping by both informing customers how they can initiate a chargeback and by not disputing said chargeback when the bank files it with them (since they acknowledge up front the purchase was fraudulant).

Are they though? All I see here is a PR letter to help them save face. They have yet to supply me directly with any of this info. They have every means of contacting me as well - three email addresses, personal phone number, physical address. Please keep in mind that unless you are privy to both sides of the story (Apple's and the victims'), you only hear what Apple wants you to. This is not a new problem either, I think they were hoping that it would just go away like some of their other recent issues.

 

[theKD80]

Why do people buy google ads?

[edit - posted on the wrong thread]

 

[kernkraft]

So in only two weeks

- Iphone 4's released: it's extremely fragile
- Only 50 iPhone get replaced and others can f$ck off
- Some people can't use it, there's a problem with the sim
(- The reversed volume button and yelow tint are non-issues)
- There's the antenna problem related to transmission
- Apple tells us it's the consumers fault, and we have to buy an ugly case
- Then they tell us there's a software problem they'll fix. They lied by telling us there's no problem.
- Then they lied by telling us it's a software problem. It's impossible
- While some people are happy to try Facetime with an Apple number because they won't obviously be able to use it in real life, some people fill a class action.
- Apple tells their employees to deny any problems
- There's a problem with the proximity sensor
- Itunes & App stores platforms get hacked and it would be the fault of the financial institutions...

A while ago I didn't get some of the Apple hate cause I like my 3GS, MBP and every other Mac & iPod I had. But now I really can't understand how there can be so many denying Apple cocksùckers apologists who don't even get the money Apple makes while we consumer are all getting screwed again & again...

You forgot to mention the green tilt when taking pictures indoors, with the light on.

 

[coleridge78]

Did the people commit the fraud have access to our cc info? From what I've read I think they only made bad purchases on iTunes? That means Apple's security was at fault. They let these people obtain our user info and was able to make unauthorized purchases on iTunes only.

Apple should just refund everyone's money and call it a day. Why make the consumers contact the bank etc, when all they have is the iTunes account information?

I'm not sure what your point is. Whoever's security was at "fault" (most likely, it was ten or twelve people who replied to a phish or had easily-guessable passwords--but we don't know), the point is that the card company needs to know that someone fraudulently used the card, and handle it from their end. Yes, the merchant works with the card company, but as explained numerous times the merchant can't handle the matter on their own (for both practical and legal reasons).

 

[spazzcat]

Did the people commit the fraud have access to our cc info? From what I've read I think they only made bad purchases on iTunes? That means Apple's security was at fault. They let these people obtain our user info and was able to make unauthorized purchases on iTunes only.

Apple should just refund everyone's money and call it a day. Why make the consumers contact the bank etc, when all they have is the iTunes account information?

It's not Apple's fault you fell for a phishing scam.

 

[kernkraft]

I really don't understand how google makes money. Who are these people who buy ads from google? I have never seen a google ad that has any relevance to me.

In fact when I see google ads my brain translates the ads to "crap, ignore."

I really don't get it. When I search for something on Google the last thing I want is an ad. I want to find the thing I'm searching for in an objective way, not based on an advertisement.

Google is a great search engine, the best. I can always find exactly what I looking for. Now I realize that google makes billions of dollars selling ads, but I honestly think they are a crap advertising company.

You haven't realised that some of those search hits are paid and that search engine rankings can be improved by having adverts around...

 

[CWallace]

Please keep in mind that unless you are privy to both sides of the story (Apple's and the victims'), you only hear what Apple wants you to.

Fully understood.

 

[coleridge78]

Where was Apple's flagging of the account for this suspicious activity?!

Why would they go to the expense of duplicating what your credit card company does?

Which makes more sense, having your card company look out for ALL the activity on your card, or asking each merchant to set up sophisticated tracking systems to do so? (In which case, of course, everyone scream bloody murder about the invasion of privacy.)

Are you suggesting that these other merchants have dedicated applications like iTunes where their transactions are handled? This is where I see the difference and place more accountability on Apple. Theirs is more of a "closed" system in that it is not simply a merchant operating a website.

Hrm? It's exactly the same as, say, Amazon's website except the web browser happens to be embedded in an iTunes pane.

I will no longer store credit card info in iTunes because I don't feel the merchant has proper security measures in place to secure it. I'm all for personal responsibility, but until they can prove to me that any of my actions caused this breach, I am pointing a finger.

It's probably wise not to store your card info anywhere, really. But, until you can prove that more than a few people were hit by this logic tells us that it was not a "breach", and in fact was due to some action of yours. Maybe something that seemed innocent, like using your Apple credentials to sign in to a protected area of their website while you were on a machine that was keylogging.

 

[bobr1952]

I would worry more about debit cards information than credit cards. It is pretty easy to correct credit card problems since you haven't actually paid for anything yet. I don't worry about it personally as I have card info stored all over the place, but of course I check transaction status frequently just to make sure. The best defense is strong and unique passwords for all of the sites that require them--never use the same password for more than one site. Best defense in my book.

 

[Greg173]

Wirelessly posted (Opera/9.80 (iPhone; Opera Mini/5.0.019802/19.752; U; en) Presto/2.6.25)

This dev screwed over my girlfriend. The dev took out over $300 drom her bank acct and it took her over 2 weeks to get it back. Im just happy this ******* got cought. We were on the phone with apple every day, and not to mention the numerous email exchanges.

 

[nopple]

Wow, this is really bad. Cant believe apple has all these security holes.
First ipad and now iTunes. This should be headline news to make sure people know about this major mistake from apple.

 

[Tonewheel]

Dumb...

Apple should offer the backcharge as well... this is irresponsable by Apple to pass the chargeback responsability to the bank or CC company.

Uh, no. That's not how things work.

If your CC is stolen and someone uses the card to purchase goods and/or services, you contact your credit card company...not the individual vendors. The CC companies are set up to deal with these specific issues on a daily basis.

 

[Tonewheel]

Your example is a failure of Apple's product that they sold you; of course they handle the refund.

That has nothing to do with credit card fraud which is always handled by the card company (including issuing any refunds), not the merchant.

Please don't confuse him with facts.

 

[mcmlxix]

Again, anyone suggesting that Apple is falling short here, or should be issuing refunds themselves, is (with all due respect) not familiar with the subject. It would be no different if the merchant were Newegg, Target, or Bill's Imports down on Lake Street.

That reminds me, I need to go to Bill's. I hope they sell giardiniera, so I don't have to go over to Cosetta's.

 

[goobot]

That's why I don't have a cc on my account.

 

[atomicbatteries]

nice of them to respond to this and not the problems they are having with customers with their dam phone.

 

[gnagy]

So what's to stop a developer from doing something like this, but targeting their competition's apps, and having Apple remove them from the store?

That's a really good question. My guess is that nothing is stopping them from doing that, and it would be really difficult to prove one way or the other.

 

[JustLeft]

I removed my credit card info from iTunes over a year ago. I purchase itunes gift cards at Costco and redeem them in iTunes. Wonder what happens then? There is no credit card company involved. Will apple restore the lost credits?