My iTunes Account got hacked!

I felt a bit stupid discovering that my iTunes account was hacked for about a month already and only noticed it yesterday. Now, I’m just figuring out how it happened and will wait for Apple customer support if they can reverse the charges.

It all started with a nagging password prompt on my iPhone 3G. Can’t download any new apps because it says I got a wrong password. Since my DSL that month was sluggish, I thought it was just the connection. My last app download was Skype and Yahoo for the iPhone.

Then I remembered that email from iTunes about me requesting a new password (something I know I didn’t do int he first place). The account was tied to my Yahoo! email which I seldom check.

Yesterday, while checking the Meralco bill that was emailed to me, I also found these charges on my iTunes account:

itunes

That’s when I realized my account was hacked. I immediately requested a new iTunes password and also changed my Yahoo! account password. Reported all the paid apps to Apple as “Did not intend to buy this” and waiting for their response to reverse all the charges.

Abe Olandres

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

https://www.yugatech.com

33 Comments

Doc Harry says:

16 years ago

Happens to the best of us. Hope you have better luck than me with my lost Citi CC.
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Pedro says:

16 years ago

Scary!!!!
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Darren says:

16 years ago

hope only minimum damages, Yuga!!
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Hamilton Chua says:

16 years ago

I think someone hacked your yahoo e-mail account and used that to request for a new password.

I have heard lots of stories about hacked yahoo mail accounts. My own brother’s account was hacked a few months back, we all got e-mail from him that he was stuck somewhere abroad and needed money to get home.

This is really disturbing if you use yahoo mail for things like your paypal account.

I would be interested in any theories as to why Yahoo mail seems to be so prone to being hacked and whether Gmail is more secure.

Is it just a case of weak passwords ?
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Fried Pal says:

16 years ago

That’s something that I should prevent too. Sayang rin ang perang nawala sayo!
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BrianB says:

16 years ago

So why didn’t the hacker buy a more expensive app?
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chris says:

16 years ago

awts..dapat password mo may mga special char..
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Pink says:

16 years ago

What?! Grabe naman..
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eldie21 says:

16 years ago

Di kaya un pagregister mo ng FREETXT na nakikita sa website. Sabihin may FREE LOAD pero wag ka kin0c0pya na un Username at Password. Imagine, kahit ikaw magkaka-IDEA ka na un pagreg mo sa website nila eh un ang pers0nal account. So you better be CAREFOOL. Hahaha piz0ut… CIAO!
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Paul Pisig says:

16 years ago

To create a password, include the following:

Capital letter at the beginning, small letters next, then numbers, then special characters like $, #, @, etc.

What’s alarming too is that when I first opened this blog entry, my Norton 360 prompted a warning message that this particular page has a threat. I didn’t read the message thoroughly so I wasn’t able to understand if this page has a spyware, virus, or whatever.
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