Apple Store vulnerable to fraudsters

BlueYonder

BlueYonder

Flaming panties
Aug 13, 2008
2,660
49
0
New York Metro
For the second month in a row, I have hundreds of dollars of APPL*ITUNES charges on my Chase Visa card that I didn't make, and I can't put an end to the fraud.

I did as the credit card companies require which was to write a snail mail letter explaining the fraud and withhold payment on the fraudulent charges. The issue is supposed to be investigated by the cc company's fraud department, and interest on the outstanding balance not charged to me during the investigation.

This month's bill has last month's illicit charges on it, including interest, and more APPL*ITUNES charges I didn't make. Everybody's asleep at the wheel here, and I'm on the hook for the charges.

I don't know what to do about this, except to cancel the card, but I would lose out on the points I have accrued. I just wrote an email to Steve Jobs, but who knows if his handlers let him see email from us peasants. There is nothing at the Apple site addressing fraud.

Anybody have advice?
 


BlueYonder said:
I don't know what to do about this, except to cancel the card, but I would lose out on the points I have accrued.
Click to expand...

Just report your card lost, the account will remain open but the you'll get a new card in the mail (and hence a new cc number) and the old one will stop working. You'll keep your points (at least I did with Chase)
 
justo_tx said:
Just report your card lost, the account will remain open but the you'll get a new card in the mail (and hence a new cc number) and the old one will stop working. You'll keep your points (at least I did with Chase)
Click to expand...

^ That, any good cc company will give you a new number if you say you card was lost or stolen.
 
I was thinking of paying the bill, again withholding payment for the fraudulent items and the interest, and sending them my torn up card. I think they'll take notice if customers are tearing up cards and canceling accounts.

The card technically was stolen; my info is being exploited and used by others, even if I physically still have the card.

As for the points, I'll hope for the best.
 
Whenever I complain about anything to my credit card they take care of it without much more input from me. Get an amex
 
BlueYonder said:
I was thinking of paying the bill, again withholding payment for the fraudulent items and the interest, and sending them my torn up card.
Click to expand...

Why the hell would you do this? Makes absolutely no sense wasting your time and energy cutting up your CC and mailing it to them? Do you think that'll get their panties in a bunch by doing that? Do you think they'll compensate you hundreds for doing this?

While I agree what happened sucks, report it stolen and move on.
 
I'm not sure what credit card company you use, but mine stopped payment on a $99 on Amazon and protected me from a merchant taking my cc# - they gave
me a new card and that was the end of it. You need some sort of buyer's protection to let you cc companies know to notify you of irregular purchases.
 
I believe this is covered under Reg E which protects consumer electronic fund transfers.

See the links below for what Reg E is & what it covers

Electronic Code of Federal Regulations:
Electronic Fund Transfer Act - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In the first link, one of the first errors listed under what is covered by Reg E is:
(i) An unauthorized electronic fund transfer;

If I remember correctly, the fraudulent charges on your credit card, are considered an unauthorised EFT.

Look through the first link and find section " (b) Notice of error from consumer —(1) Timing; contents."

If you fulfill certain conditions about informing them of these charges, then they have to
- Investigate within 10 business days
- If they can't investigate within 10 biz days, they can take an additional 45 biz days, but they have to provisionally credit your account back the amount of the disputed charges.

So you really shouldn't have to pay the bill, let alone the interest.

Call up your CC company and tell them that you know about Reg E and your rights under it. Work up the chain of command if you have to. The CSR probably doesn't know what Reg E is.

And yes, it is a good idea to get a new number, so that the old one doesn't work anymore.


Hope this helps & good luck.
 
EDU Rocks said:
I think Mr. Jobs may be a little too busy to read your email. Just a possibility :)
Click to expand...

I think you have no idea what you're talking about. Steve Jobs frequently responds to emails, and did to me personally when my old Powerbook G4 was having issues. I was called the day after he emailed me back by executive support, and was given a new upgraded Macbook Pro with extended warranty at no cost.
 
BlueYonder said:
I don't know what to do about this, except to cancel the card, but I would lose out on the points I have accrued. I just wrote an email to Steve Jobs, but who knows if his handlers let him see email from us peasants. There is nothing at the Apple site addressing fraud.

Anybody have advice?
Click to expand...
Hi BlueYonder,

Your credit card and your credit card account should be two separate things. You should be able to cancel your credit card and get a new one and have it tied to the same account - therefore keeping your points.

I'm really not sure what Apple could have done to prevent this if you didn't have them remove the credit card number from your iTunes account. Assuming someone has stolen all your info, it's easy for them to go ahead and make more transactions that will look perfectly legitimate. I'm actually surprised that whoever has stolen your info hasn't tried purchasing other things.

Unless, of course, they've phished your iTunes account info. Then there is really not much Apple could have done at all. But that would be the "best" problem to have as your CC info wouldn't be out there floating around somewhere.

I'd suggest you have your CC company cancel the card and re-issue a new one, and I'd suggest you change your iTunes info.
 
Why aren't you raising a little hell with the CC co.?

It's fraud. You reported it. Nothing has been fixed.

Stop posting here and call in. If the first person doesn't help you, move up the chain of command.

You need:

1.) New card with different numbers so whoever is doing it can't anymore.

2.) Fraudulent charges removed.

3.) number 2 may be more complicated if someone phished your itunes account info and is purchasing that way. Then you have to also get itunes on the phone and see what THEY can do for you.
 
So far, I have contacted the cc company twice reporting the fraud, and still working on it to get satisfaction and a full chargeback. I will post back here with my results when something tangible happens. I am really stressed out and losing sleep over this. It hasn't been a good week for me.

Checking in with the Apple store, I couldn't even find my old account from 5 years ago, as I buy their products from third party vendors and I haven't downloaded iTunes. So the account wasn't phished, as there's no current credit card on record.

Does anybody know if all Apple store charges appear on a bill as APPL*ITUNES, or is that just for the iTunes division? All of the illicit charges looked like that.
 
did u try reporting you card lost so they can reissue a new cc number and you can still retain your points?
 
papajohn56 said:
I think you have no idea what you're talking about. Steve Jobs frequently responds to emails, and did to me personally when my old Powerbook G4 was having issues. I was called the day after he emailed me back by executive support, and was given a new upgraded Macbook Pro with extended warranty at no cost.
Click to expand...

I'd had an opportunity to work for a company equally good as Apple Inc. These corporate firms know that their CEO (or the public face of that company) mailboxes will be targeted by customers who either are too happy or too frustrated. They usually have a team put up to monitor that particular mailbox. I was part of one such team. We would respond on their behalf but had the communications approved from our legal and/or policies department (depending on the case). We were also not aware of the actual mailbox of the CEO. I suppose Steve Jobs also has a team put up which monitors and responds to emails coming to his "so called" mailbox.
 
Why are you being so damn dramatic about this? Any CC company will issue you a new card if you request it. You also usually don't have to do much more than report the charges on your statement as ones you didn't make to get them resolved.

This certainly isn't something to get stressed out about and lose sleep over.
 
It's 2010, why are people still checking their CC and bank statements on a monthly basis? I made it a habit to check at least once every other day to make sure everything is legit. If you catch these things while they are happening, it makes it much less of a headache in the end.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom