50,000 Hacked iTunes Accounts For Sale In China

Around 50,000 hacked iTunes accounts are being sold on China’s leading online shopping site Taoboa.com at prices as low as 10p, it has been revealed.

For 200 yuan (£19.50), a Taobao user can access a hacked account on iTunes with £130 worth of vouchers to buy any digital product from Apple’s entertainment vault.

However, these illegal accounts will be valid for only 24 hours after the purchase through Taobao’s online payment system.

“A 24-hour limit is out of concern that the legitimate user will discover his account being violated and cancel his card within this period,” Xu Yuanzhi, a Chinese IT expert who has been following the case, told the Global Times, where details of the fraud first  surfaced.

Trojan virus production-and-distribution gangs

By purchasing an illegal account on Taobao.com, the buyer will receive a username and password to access the iTunes store, including the real user’s credit card details.

According to reports, there are five Trojan virus production-and-distribution gangs in China, with over 300,000 members developing and selling the virus to hackers.

However, it has not been confirmed yet whether these accounts were hacked directly or if they were registered by fraudsters using stolen credit card details.

Meanwhile, thousands of illicit iTunes accounts have been sold in recent months. Apple forums see a number of complaints from victims of such scams.

“I found that my account was used to purchase $50 iTunes gift card. This was not my credit card. I suspect someone else credit card was stolen and used under my name,” wrote one user in December 2010. “I have contacted iTunes and they suggested to change password. But they did not tell me how to mark this transaction as fraud. It looks like they do not care”.

iTunes tightening security

Apple said in a statement to the BBC that iTunes is always working to prevent fraud and enhance the password security of all of its users.

“But if your credit card or iTunes password is stolen and used on iTunes we recommend that you contact your financial institution and inquire about cancelling the card and/or issuing a chargeback for any unauthorised transactions”.

“We also recommend that you change your iTunes account password immediately”.