The “51p iTunes Fraud”
08.27.07 - 03:41pm
Apple’s iTunes store is becoming the new testing ground for fraudsters using stolen credit cards.
The crooks who used to buy a pint of milk, (nicknamed the “pint of milk fraud” that died out with the introduction of pin numbers), to test whether a stolen credit card number would work, have now upgraded to the digital realm and are testing the credit cards by purchasing a single music song on iTunes, sometimes as small as 51p. The scam has been nicknamed the “51p iTunes fraud”.
If the purchase is successful the crook then moves on to larger and larger purchases, until the owner of the card becomes suspicious and reports it.
The “cardnotpresent” frauds or basically online purchases last year topped approximately 424 million, 49 percent of all fraud purchases.
Moral of the story – If you want to avoid being one of the victims of the “51p iTunes fraud”, check your card purchases closely and look for any unauthorized song purchases. Also follow the advice of Sandra Quinn, director at payment services trade organization (APACS), who said, “A good way to help keep your card safe from being used fraudulently on the internet is to sign up for Verified by Visa and MasterCard SecureCode.
“Simply register a private password with your card company and use it when you shop online at participating retailers.”
This happened to me and I contacted iTunes and they said they had corrected it and locked my account – this happened in Jan. On May 14it happened again and their excuse was someone in my family probably did it…they told me they had found another account and disabled it and my credit card number – on May 17 it was charged again…you can not speak to anyone at Itunes – everything has to be done by email and all you get is more frustration! No one at Itunes even mentioned this.