Suspicious Visa Charge From iTunes

[pdmike]

A charge showed up on my Visa that I don't remember making. It is a charge from iTunes for around $89.00 on 1-24-11.

I have purchased a number of apps from iTunes, of course, and I know that iTunes does lump multiple app purchases together and send you one (email) receipt for all of them.

But I am suspicious of this one. So my question is: does anyone know of a way in which I can check out the charge with iTunes? Is there a link on their Web site for such a procedure? I haven't been able to find it yet, if there is one.

Has anyone else had a similar experience? Is iTunes a place where it is easy to get ripped off by someone moving in on your account? I have no other, suspicious charges on this Visa bill, so I don't think my credit card has been compromised.

Usually, when something like this happens, it always develops that the charge is legit and I have just forgotten what it was for. I would like to confirm that now - how do I do it?

 

[accordlayingkit]

A charge showed up on my Visa that I don't remember making. It is a charge from iTunes for around $89.00 on 1-24-11.

I have purchased a number of apps from iTunes, of course, and I know that iTunes does lump multiple app purchases together and send you one (email) receipt for all of them.

But I am suspicious of this one. So my question is: does anyone know of a way in which I can check out the charge with iTunes? Is there a link on their Web site for such a procedure? I haven't been able to find it yet, if there is one.

Has anyone else had a similar experience? Is iTunes a place where it is easy to get ripped off by someone moving in on your account? I have no other, suspicious charges on this Visa bill, so I don't think my credit card has been
compromised.

Usually, when something like this happens, it always develops that the charge
is legit and I have just forgotten what it was for. I would like to confirm that now - how do I do it?

I believe u can go in your iTunes program on your desktop and make sure your logged in and click on your email address somewhere on the right side and should be able to view your account and purchased apps

 

[pdmike]

Thanks. I tried that, and it does not provide the info I need. I have located the $89.00 charge, but the individual purchases that make up that charge are not all visible. I can see two of them, and recognize both of them as having been charges I made, but there is not enough space to list them all, and, after the second charge, it just goes off . . . , and I cannot find a way to see what the rest of the charges are.

I suspect it's all OK, since the two lead-off charges are charges I made, but
eighty-nine big ones is an awfully large charge for an iTunes purchase and even though it is made up of a bunch of small ones, I don't remember any charge that would be large enough to contribute to a total that big. I mean, I know I didn't make 89, 99-cent charges, so something in there had to be fairly substantial and I cannot, for the life of me, think of what it could have been.

 

[SweetPoison]

They always send me a confirmation email ~ days later ~ but it breaks it all down what I bought.

They don't do that with you?

 

[pricej636]

Go to iTunes store, from the top menu go to Store, View Account, Purchase History, Find the purchase for that amount and click on the little grey arrow to the left of that line. It should show you ALL the purchases for that charge. It will even show you the free apps that you downloaded during that period.

 

[pdmike]

They always send me a confirmation email ~ days later ~ but it breaks it all down what I bought.

They don't do that with you?

Yes, they do. But I can't find it. I have several other confirmation emails from them, but not the one that covers this expense. I have looked in Old Mail and also checked the folder I keep of online purchases. I must have deleted it, not thinking I would need it. My bad.

But there has to be some way to check this. I wish the Web site would show the complete charges. As I mentioned above, they don't.

Wouldn't a single, $89.00 charge from iTunes, get your attention? What can cost that much at iTunes, for Pete's sake? And, as I said, I know I didn't make 89, 99-cent app purchases, or even twenty, four-dollar purchases.

 

[pdmike]

Go to iTunes store, from the top menu go to Store, View Account, Purchase History, Find the purchase for that amount and click on the little grey arrow to the left of that line. It should show you ALL the purchases for that charge. It will even show you the free apps that you downloaded during that period.

Whoa! The little gray arrow. NOW we're getting somewhere. Thank you. I'm off to check it.

 

[kryptykk]

I've been 'mysteriously' charged by apple for $19.99 for downloading some app that was in Chinese that I've never heard of before, nor had ever used on my iPod obviously. I emailed customer support, realized it was an error, and removed. Hope this helps.

 

[pdmike]

Go to iTunes store, from the top menu go to Store, View Account, Purchase History, Find the purchase for that amount and click on the little grey arrow to the left of that line. It should show you ALL the purchases for that charge. It will even show you the free apps that you downloaded during that period.

OK - problem partially solved. By following your gray-arrow suggestion, I was able to narrow it down to one app: "Bakery Story." It seems that iTunes charged me $89.99 for this supposedly "free" app.

I am contacting Visa, disputing the charge, and requesting that I be given a fraud credit in the amount of the charge. I will also be contacing iTunes.

 

[kryptykk]

Go to iTunes store, from the top menu go to Store, View Account, Purchase History, Find the purchase for that amount and click on the little grey arrow to the left of that line. It should show you ALL the purchases for that charge. It will even show you the free apps that you downloaded during that period.

OK - problem partially solved. By following your gray-arrow suggestion, I was able to narrow it down to one app: "Bakery Story." It seems that iTunes charged me $89.99 for this supposedly "free" app.

I am contacting Visa, disputing the charge, and requesting that I be given a fraud credit in the amount of the charge. I will also be contacing iTunes.

I would just contact Apple, as they were the ones that charged you. You will be able to get your money back directly from them.

 

[pdmike]

Go to iTunes store, from the top menu go to Store, View Account, Purchase History, Find the purchase for that amount and click on the little grey arrow to the left of that line. It should show you ALL the purchases for that charge. It will even show you the free apps that you downloaded during that period.

OK - problem partially solved. By following your gray-arrow suggestion, I was able to narrow it down to one app: "Bakery Story." It seems that iTunes charged me $89.99 for this supposedly "free" app.

I am contacting Visa, disputing the charge, and requesting that I be given a fraud credit in the amount of the charge. I will also be contacing iTunes.

I would just contact Apple, as they were the ones that charged you. You will be able to get your money back directly from them.

I would if I could. Any suggestions on how to "contact Apple"?

I don't suppose there is a phone number where I can talk to a human, is there . . . ?

 

[kryptykk]

OK - problem partially solved. By following your gray-arrow suggestion, I was able to narrow it down to one app: "Bakery Story." It seems that iTunes charged me $89.99 for this supposedly "free" app.

I am contacting Visa, disputing the charge, and requesting that I be given a fraud credit in the amount of the charge. I will also be contacing iTunes.

I would just contact Apple, as they were the ones that charged you. You will be able to get your money back directly from them.

I would if I could. Any suggestions on how to "contact Apple"?

I don't suppose there is a phone number where I can talk to a human, is there . . . ?

Yeah, that's the only problem I had.. had to send an email, they had it fixed in 2 days.

 

[RAC]

About 6 months ago, 9 x $199 was fraudulently billed by iTunes to by credit card. I got the money back (a month later).

It was the bank that notified me that there was a problem and the bank that refunded the money. I didn't correspond with iTunes at all.

I now only leave my credit card with iTunes for a few minutes while making a purchase. I simply don't trust their security.

 

[Bob Coxner]

Go to iTunes store, from the top menu go to Store, View Account, Purchase History, Find the purchase for that amount and click on the little grey arrow to the left of that line. It should show you ALL the purchases for that charge. It will even show you the free apps that you downloaded during that period.

OK - problem partially solved. By following your gray-arrow suggestion, I was able to narrow it down to one app: "Bakery Story." It seems that iTunes charged me $89.99 for this supposedly "free" app.

I am contacting Visa, disputing the charge, and requesting that I be given a fraud credit in the amount of the charge. I will also be contacing iTunes.

Do you have kids? Bakery Story is one of those free apps that allows in-game purchases to get extra goodies or speed things up. Those costs can add up quickly and children often don't realize they're charging to the account. Smurf's Village is another one that has gotten a lot of attention in the press as kids run up $1000 or more in charges to their parent's iTunes account.

Publisher greed: Little girl amasses $1,400 iPhone bill playing ‘Smurf’s Village’

My solution to avoid iTunes fraud (and problems like the above) is to use a virtual credit card with a $20 limit on it. Bank of America and a few other banks offer this service. My max liability is $20. When that $20 is exhausted through legit purchases, I just add another one with a $20 limit.

 

[pdmike]

Go to iTunes store, from the top menu go to Store, View Account, Purchase History, Find the purchase for that amount and click on the little grey arrow to the left of that line. It should show you ALL the purchases for that charge. It will even show you the free apps that you downloaded during that period.

OK - problem partially solved. By following your gray-arrow suggestion, I was able to narrow it down to one app: "Bakery Story." It seems that iTunes charged me $89.99 for this supposedly "free" app.

I am contacting Visa, disputing the charge, and requesting that I be given a fraud credit in the amount of the charge. I will also be contacing iTunes.

Do you have kids? Bakery Story is one of those free apps that allows in-game purchases to get extra goodies or speed things up. Those costs can add up quickly and children often don't realize they're charging to the account. Smurf's Village is another one that has gotten a lot of attention in the press as kids run up $1000 or more in charges to their parent's iTunes account.

Publisher greed: Little girl amasses $1,400 iPhone bill playing ‘Smurf’s Village’

My solution to avoid iTunes fraud (and problems like the above) is to use a virtual credit card with a $20 limit on it. Bank of America and a few other banks offer this service. My max liability is $20. When that $20 is exhausted through legit purchases, I just add another one with a $20 limit.

Well, I did the same thing as the little children - I guess I purchased some "gems" to "help play the game better" totally without knowing that hard bucks were being charged for the purchase. Don't ask me how that happened - I certainly never did it knowingly. Eighty nine bucks in order to play some video game a little better? I don't think so.

I was able to talk to a human at Apple. She got iTunes on another line. Problem fixed. My credit card will be credited next month for the full amount of the charge (which I had already paid before discovering what was going on).

What a scam. How do they allow something like this to go on?