S’pore Apple Users Complain About Fraudulent iTunes Transactions, Lost Up To ‘Thousands of Dollars’

Boon Hun

2018-07-22 , 1:46 pm

When it comes to mobile security, iPhones were thought of as one of the safest in the entire world.

Unlike Android’s, iOS’s apps must be signed off by Apple before it can be published on the iTunes store.

Little bugs appear from time to time, but they’ll be stomped on quickly by Apple before it does any serious harm.

Until yesterday, that is.

Apple Users Reporting Fraudulent Transactions, Costing Them ‘Hundreds of Dollars’

If you’re an Apple user, you might want to check for any strange transactions in your account.

And by strange, we mean charges to your bank account that wasn’t made by you.

On 22 Jul, it was reported that there are 58 cases of fraudulent transactions in July. OCBC said that they’ve detected and investigated “unusual transactions on 58 cardholders’ accounts.”.

Apple Singapore said that they are now looking into the matter.

An Apple spokesperson did not comment on the extent of the issue but said that the company is looking into the matter right now.

It was understood that customers from major banks in Singapore were the most hit.

DBS also said that they will be providing victims of the fraudulent transactions temporary credits while the bank conducts their investigations.

“We also constantly monitor credit/debit card transactions in real time for any suspicious activities…we urge customers to call us immediately at 1800 111 1111 if they notice suspicious or unusual activity in their accounts.” – DBS Spokesperson

Apple Users Discovered Unauthorised Deductions From Their Bank Accounts

One Apple user, Deepan Chakkaravarthi, 28, said that he discovered nearly $700 gone from his DBS bank account.

When he called DBS to clarify, he found out that six iTunes transactions were made. He was told that each transaction was $112.03 and was made by another iCloud account holder.

The account has since been suspected and Apple Singapore proceeded to null his purchases.

And he wasn’t the only one.

44-year-old Myo Aung Tun claimed he had multiple $112.03 transactions too, amounting to nearly $450.

He was instructed to change his bank card.

25-year-old Chen Yi Ling said she had over $4,400 deducted from her DBS account. She had just left a movie when she received an SMS from DBS, telling her that her card will be blocked.

20 of the 27 transactions has been refunded back to her.

Facebook user Patricia Choy took to the social media platform and claimed that more than $7,000 was deducted from her bank account in 45 transactions.

Users Charged Repeatedly on Mobile Phone Bills Too

And it didn’t start happening in July 2018.

User Gabriel Lim was billed $200 for fraudulent transactions in his M1 phone bill between April and May.

He contacted Apple Singapore to cancel the transactions.

Then, another batch of “iTunes Orders” appeared on his bill again in June and July.

So, what can you do?

So, you suspect that your account might be one of the affected ones. Here’s what you can do.

Apple Singapore has a support page which is where customers go to when they want to report any problems with purchases made on iTunes.

If there are, report it on that page.